BY GEORGE, IT'S A DRABBLE GAME. (CL STYLE)

[Taelia offline]

[quote]Physical features cascaded over the bulky wireframe suspended a few feet off the ground. Jim Morales materialized and landed awkwardly on his rear before rising to his feet and looking at the scenery.
''It reminds me of one of those war simulator programs I helped make in the army..."
"You made war simulator programs?" Odd inquired curiously.
"I'd rather not talk about it."

"Really, Jim? Why not? Lyoko is the perfect place to talk about...''

"A swarm of Hornets coming your way." Jeremie's voice warned from above.

"Hey Jimbo, how's this for motivation?"

The swarm of Hornets flew closer in, swerving as they approached.

"If I take out more monsters than you, you have to tell me about that war simulator program."

“Er, ah….of course! I’m tough enough for that! I accept your challenge!â€

[Stonecreek]

Prompt: Falling over
Character(s): Jeremie

Not counting words or rating or anything - just winging it. Also, would someone please for the love of *insert deity here* play the BKO version of this?

Ahem. Drabble time.

Jeremie fell over, hard. There was no soft bed or even his computer chair in the vicinity to cushion his fall. So the blond computer whiz went down in a tangle of scrawny limbs and skinned knees, fighting all the while to remain upright and failing.

This, in and of itself is not an uncommon occurence. Jeremie's skills kay behind a keyboard, and not so much in general hand-eye coordination otherwise. The location, too, was not all-together foriegn for these things to be taking place in. Outside of the factory, this was the second biggest offender on his list of personal humiliation hallowed grounds.

Jeremie spat on that "hallowed ground" as he dragged himself up. The snickers in the background were easily blocked out, because they were seemingly always there. The big, boming voice directed at him, though, was hard to ignore. And the pain it promised was far more severe than the scrapes he got in his frequest spills.

"Belpois, I saw that over there! I want an extra four laps around the track on the double! Get to it!"

Jeremie rolled his eyes at the P.E. teacher (who could stand to follow his own advice) and hastened to comply with the order. The track was smooth, perfectly innoucuous - and Jeremie was sure his humiliation today was not over yet. Not over by a mile.

Whew. That ended up longer than I planned. Oh wait, I didn't plan. Anyway, new prompt and characters: Anything OddxSissi

[ArgentDandelion offline]

Prompt: Anything OddxSissi
(This takes place after Down to Earth.)

"William's all alone out there.'' Jeremie commented flatly. Earlier, Aelita, Yumi, and Ulrich all fell for XANA's trap, and try as he might to bring them back, for the time being were floating around someplace in limbo, a place he knew better than any of them. It was not an entirely unpleasant experience, but their being out of commission was. With no other option, Jeremie called in William, who was now happily slicing squadron after squadron of Flying Mantas and Tarantulas in the Ice Sector, no doubt trying to regain the group's trust. Without backup, he was sure to become devirtualized, or worse, possessed, sometime.

''You should go after him."

"Without Ulrich, Yumi, or Aelita, we'll be toast in there."

"I am aware of that, and I'm working as fast as I can." Jeremie replied edgily.

Odd leaned against a wall. "Since we all know you're not going to Lyoko---"

"Never. Again."

“How about we call Sissi?â€

[Stonecreek]

Yay! I'm a sucker for such stories as the one you've begun there, ArgentDandelion. I do wish you'd continue it.

Anyway, the prompt still is:

Prompt: Dance Dance Break Dance. (we need something silly after this serious one.)
Characters: Anyone.

[Tekirai offline]

Because Stoney loves his drabbles and seems to want to revive these threads and I do too honestly! I have all the creative juices right now, like I am the sole creative fruit. Squeeze me. <s>I didn't think this through, can you tell?</s>

I especially hope ArgentDandelion is still around for this game, because I've absolutely loved all the drabbles you've done! Actually everybody should come and play this game again RIGHT THIS INSTANT

Prompt: Dance Dance Break Dance
Characters: Anyone

Ulrich would have liked to say that he was a patient boy for his age, but at the same time, he would also have liked to say that he was a truthful boy. The two conflicted with each other so brutally it was nothing short of a pipe dream for the brunet - just as brutally as the broken-toned words of his lovely roommate battered against his poor eardrums at the present moment.

His (at this rate, former) best friend was spinning around in his bed at such a speed it would have been impressive if his audience wasn't as pissed as he was. Was it Odd's inhuman movements that made him appear to be nothing more than a red and purple blur or was it his bordering on white rage frustration that was causing it? Ulrich couldn't tell, or particularly care.

"ODD I SWEAR TO GOD - IF YOU SAY THOSE WORDS EVER AGAIN I AM LITERALLY GOING TO BREAK YOUR DANCE. PERMANENTLY."

"Whatever, Ulrich. Break break bre- urgh!!"

At least the ambulance ride was quiet.

---

I have a confession to make - I am in love with writing Ulrich getting mad at everything that may or may not always be Odd's shenanigans.

New prompt: Baked goods
Characters: Aelita

[Stonecreek]

"ODD I SWEAR TO GOD - IF YOU SAY THOSE WORDS EVER AGAIN I AM LITERALLY GOING TO BREAK YOUR DANCE. PERMANENTLY."

New prompt: Baked goods
Characters: Aelita

That line made me think of Katara threatening Zuko at the end of the episode "The Western Air Temple" in Avatar. I like the drabble a lot.

[ArgentDandelion offline]

Tekirari, I owe you my lifeImeanfreetime.

Prompt: Baked Goods
Characters: Aelita

Aelita bent down to peek at the croissants she was baking. They seemed to be doing well; nothing was burning yet.

"When will they be ready, Mommy?" her pink-haired son asked.

Aelita checked the oven timer. "In seven minutes, dear."

Her blond daughter was standing by the stove, closely monitoring the hot chocolate. Her husband Jeremie was, of course, glued to his laptop, but courteously stayed close by by choosing to sit down at the table.

Aelita's son tried to squirm onto his father's lap. His father, however, had no room to accommodate him, and with a distinctive deep cry, father and son tumbled to the floor. Aelita rushed over to the two, with her daughter looking up from the stove at her father in concern. "Are you two okay?"

Jeremie sighed in affirmation, pushing his glasses back onto his face. "I'm fine, Aelita."

Aelita smiled. "Do you mind if I examine you?" she asked, humor in her concern. Jeremie was a little stunned at the prospect, but with a brief nod he agreed.

-_-_-_-

"Dad. Dad. Wake up." the daughter repeatedly nudged her comatose father. Jeremie's hands twitched, and within a few minutes, he managed to move. "Wha--what happened?"

"You were being PG-13 again." his daughter replied bluntly. Jeremie looked down, with a melancholy expression his face. He wanted to have a nice dinner of baked goods with Aelita.

His stomach grumbled. He wanted some dinner at all.

His daughter handed him a plate with only one croissant. "Mom made us save this for you."

Aelita stepped down from the stairs. "I just came down because you might have forgotten to microwave the hot chocolate..."

Aelita saw Jeremie in his non-comatose state, nibbling his croissant. She smiled at him. "Glad to see you're awake."

Jeremie swallowed. "Next time, let's do Magical Finger Touching instead. That's safer."

"What's Magical Finger Touching?" their daughter inquired, puzzled.

"It has to do with when your father was trapped in Limbo."

"Limbo dancing?"

"Er, yeah. Limbo dancing." The two of them could keep a secret.

Prompt: Temptation
Characters: Aelita

[Stonecreek]

Prompt: Temptation
Character: Aelita
Words: 125
Rating: PG

She was still fairly new to this whole 'being human' thing, so she was unsure of what exactly to call this sensation coursing through her like wildfire. Aelita did know one thing, though - she could not ignore it. Supressing it seemed a lost cause.

Furtively, Aelita glanced at each of her friends in turn around the lunch table. None of them appeared aware of the inner battle Aelita was waging. She glanced downward, because stealing looks at the others' faces was not helping matters. The low ache would not go away. Her mind called out for a nameless more. Aelita felt like a tightly wound spring ready to uncoil...

And then she decided to sod it, and got up to ask Rosa for seconds.

New prompt: Swimming
Character: Odd

[ArgentDandelion offline]

Prompt: Swimming
Characters: Odd

"Get that gunk off him! It's deducting his life points!" Jeremie yelled from the sky.

"Mrow?" Odd mewed. He tried licking the acid off his arms. Yumi quickly stopped his attempts with the threat of a unsheathed fan in his face.

"He lost twenty life points! Get him in the water now!" Jeremie declared.

"Did you really expect bathing a cat to be so easy?" Yumi retorted. It was difficult for her to move him into the surrounding water while simultaneously avoiding directly touching the acids.

Odd looked down inquiringly at the water. "Mrow!" he yowled. He tried scampering off to the side, but Yumi hastily grabbed his tail and hauled him back. His claws dug into the digital ice as he was slowly dragged back to the edge, carving small furrows onto the surface.

Propelled by a maroon boot to the posterior, Odd, yowling all the while, landed in the water of the Ice Sector. He made soft burbling yowls of complaint as water droplets fell from his blond-and-purple-spotted hair. Annoyed, he managed to awkwardly swim to shore, paddling with his head above the water and with a distinct catlike frown on his face.

With another small explosion and perfunctory giblet drop, the last of the Hornets was finished. Aelita turned back to Yumi and Odd. "Ulrich caught the cat. Head to the Tower, Aelita." Jeremie announced. Before his sentence was even finished, Aelita was running to the Tower, with Yumi starting off after her.

-_-_-_-

"Good news, Odd." Ulrich said, placing Odd in his misplaced but frankly adorable body into his scanner. "You'll be in a purple cat body soon."

(I hope that satisfies you, Stonecreek. Although it only tangentially relates to the subject...)
Prompt: Approval
Character: William

[Stonecreek]

Super short drabble, for I just want another prompt up. Who knows if the the babble I spew is the technical truth or not; don't really care, especially in a humor drabble.

Prompt: Approval
Character: William

"Well, why can't I?" William bemoaned to the rest of the gang, clustered around the supercomputer.

"There's many reasons..." Jeremie began.

"Some of which aren't allowed to be repeated in public." Odd tried and failed to contain his laughter at his jibe.

"Care to enlighten me, then?" William was not laughing.

Yumi and Aelita looked at William, then at each other, then at Jeremie, who nodded at them, looking relieved his explanation was in someone else's hands,

"It goes like this," Yumi said. "Our Lyoko outfits are a bit of ourselves, a bit of the system."

"And while we sympathize with you and what you were given, the hassle it'd put Jeremie - and you - through to get a redesign in just not worth it." Aelita finished.

"But, but..." William was feeling deflated.

"Believe you me," Ulrich spoke up at last. "I do NOT care to look at that much spandex ever again, but if it's to save the world, I'll have to live with it." The others, minus William, all nodded their heads quite vigorously.

And the matter was settled.

New prompt: First love
Characters: Any

[ArgentDandelion offline]

(Stonecreek, remind me of my debt to you whenever you want someone handy to dance the hula in a grass skirt. Not that I can do the hula, or any dance, but I owe you. Additionally, I liked your Drabble about William and his spandex.)

Yumi quietly closed the door. Yet again, her kid brother, Hiroki, was in her room, somberly sitting on her futon. Fortunately for him, it was too convenient an opportunity for her to become mad at him. "I heard that you and Milly got into a disagreement today," Yumi started offhandedly. Hiroki looked up at her but gave no response. Well, this seems to be on a good start, Yumi thought, slowly sitting down beside him. His gaze did not follow her.

"You're probably going to talk to me about it, aren't you?" Hiroki questioned with a bit of defiance.

Yumi paused; indeed she had planned to. Time to begin Plan B.

"A year or so ago, Ulrich and I had a...similar disagreement."

Hiroki looked at his big sister, puzzled. "Yumi, he's the perfect guy. He would never argue with you."

"You must have started it."

"I did not!" Yumi exclaimed, angered on his unexpected accusation.

Hiroki grinned. "Yes you did."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"You weren't even there, Hiroki!" Now that Hiroki was quiet (for a second or two) Yumi managed to calm herself down.

"What I meant to say is that we got eventually got over it. He did something...brave, something that showed he still cared, and I apologized. He apologized too. We didn't have to say it."

"What's your point?" Hiroki asked bluntly.

"My point is that when you're dealing with a first love, you have to show that you care." Yumi started to blush, remembering Ulrich's bandana swaying in the digital wind, and what...almost happened on Lyoko. "Even if you don't like themthat way." Yumi added.

"I spilled my soup on her." Hiroki explained. "What do I do now?"

Yumi stood up from the futon and headed towards the door. "I just gave you an enlightening chat. Figure it out for yourself."

"Yumi!" Hiroki's whining complaint went unheard.

Prompt: Distrust
Character: Odd

[xiaozanghou offline]

That first love sure reminds me of my first love....

Prompt: Distrust
Character: Odd
Words: 458

It's none of your business. That's what he would say, and you'd agree. Because it really isn't. You're not him and he's not you. He doesn't get suspicious if you sneak out and if he cares he sure won't tell you about it.

It's after midnight. That's an even better reason not to bother. There's breakfast in the morning, and you need to be able to wake up early to get first digs. Maybe that's not a better reason.

How about this: who are you to investigate a man's private affairs? There are a hundred things he could be doing. He might just be in the shower, even though he didn't take his soap. Maybe he's doing laundry, even though he didn't take his clothes. Or he's studying without his books or seeing a movie without his wallet.

You can't just leave it like that. Vanishing suddenly in the middle of the night is weird, after all. Surely you're not the only one that thinks this, so you give the news of his late-night escapades to the one you think will be most concerned about it.

when did he leave? the one you think will be most concerned asks, you imagine in a hushed whisper even though these words are always silent.

It'll cause fighting. Not your favorite excuse, but it could work. A little drama here and there is fun sometimes, and although you don't like your friends arguing, you don't exactly hate it either.

he did it again, you say to your friend, chin in your hand, speaking behind your unsure fingers. u want me to follow?

Now comes the stupid part, where you regret your offer, because you knew you weren't supposed to get involved, and you had excuses just so you wouldn't. If it's meant to be, it'll work itself out. There'll be plenty of time to speculate who he's meeting in the morning.

That's probably what you'll do. If you don't get a reply back before you doze off, that'll be the end of it. At least for tonight. When you wake up, he'll be there like always.

please, comes the reply, and you have a problem with this. You could be killed, silently, in the night, so late in the game, because XANA has made a mess of the board and you can't find all the pieces. There's no strategy, it's not fun, you don't want to play anymore, and you want to go back to sleep.

But it's the rules. Not the game's, but your own. You're already out the door, because even if Jeremie had told you to leave it be, you know you wouldn't have.

New Prompt: Exercises
Character: Any

[ArgentDandelion offline]

(Thank you for replying to the prompt, Xiaozanghou. If you ever need someone to make meowing noises and chase people on all fours like a bizarre cat in public, I would be glad to repay my debt.)
Prompt: Exercises
Character: Anyone

Yumi, Ulrich, Odd and Aelita stared at him, astounded at his athletic ability. He swam effortlessly, every motion of his arms and legs a whirl of perfect coordination and skill. The ball was bopped with grace, with almost a casual flick of the hand resulting in a wobbling yet swiftly-accelerating throw.

Ulrich cleared his throat. "If mankind lived in the water, you'd beat me at every game, Einstein."

Jeremie grinned.

(Er, they are performing aerobic exercises by playing water polo? Jeremie might not be the most athletically inclined, but he's a great swimmer.)

Prompt: Frustration
Characters: Yumi

[Stonecreek]

Character: Yumi
Prompt: Frustration
Words: 200
Rating: T-ish

Sometimes, Yumi wished that Ulrich would hurry up and kiss her already. Well, most of the time, truth be told. And she was really, really growing bone-numbingly tired of keeping this desire pent up inside.

Telling Ulrich was out of the question. Yumi could just picture the half-dazed, half scared witless look on his face. No, telling him could ruin everything. But letting this feeling stay bundled up within was slowly destroying the shreds of sanity Lyoko hadn't gotten to, so really, this was seeming like a lose-lose proposition.

Of course, she could just take the initiative and kiss him out of the blue. That would, at least, take Ulrich's fight or flight instinct out of the equation. But it would also put him on the spot, having to decide if he reciprocated her feelings or not. That, too, could end in tears.

The rest of the gang, were she to divulge what she was sure the lot of them minus her crush had guessed, would be sympathetic, pitying even. And that might just be worse than going though her romantic endeavors alone.

So, maybe, Yumi was fated to love unrequited. But that didn't mean she had to like it.

New prompt: Stargazing
Characters: Any couple you want

[ArgentDandelion offline]

Prompt: Stargazing
Characters: Any couple you want

"You know what I see in those stars?" Odd asked. The two of them lay in the soft grass together, not too far off from the manhole to the sewers.

"What?" Samantha Knight replied.

"I see...spaghetti."

"You always think about food, Odd." Samantha muttered bluntly, a thin facsimile of tiredness covering her fondness.

Odd turned to Sam.

"What do you see?"

Sam looked back at the stars.

"I see...my dad. His face. Shining bright on me." Sam turned to a nearby cluster of stars. "And my mom. By the look on her face, she's furious that I haven't come back to my aunt's house." Sam's smile faded into a thin line of concern. "Or maybe she's worried."

Odd's own mouth mirrored Sam's, but for different reasons. Why did he feel this way? She stunned him like no girl ever did. Deeply, like Sam had jabbed his heart with a cow prod.

But he remembered the skateboarding competition. He remembered that Sam hadn't delivered Ulrich's message. How she endangered the world by keeping the skateboarding soldier he was at the home front.

But only because she liked him. She liked him. She didn't feel like slapping him in the face after an hour or two. So why did he feel so ambivalent? Why did he feel that he was missing out on something when he had the beauty of the world beside him?

"You should go back to your aunt's house."

"What?"

"You wouldn't want to make your mother worried." Odd added, excusing his earlier outburst.

Sam, a little befuddled, shrugged, rose, and left him in the grass.

Odd sighed. He flopped back onto the ground and looked up at the night sky. To him, the stars shone in only one pattern. One pattern that represented a ton of emotions and experiences. Pain, gain, loss, victory, sadness, happiness.

An Eye of XANA.

Prompt: Forgiveness
Characters: Ulrich

[xiaozanghou offline]

Prompt: Forgiveness
Characters: Ulrich

Ulrich never asked anyone for forgiveness, and nobody had ever absolved him. It was a Thing between the group, that if you'd done something bad and you were sorry, they'd get over it when they got over it.

Too long ago, Ulrich didn't want to go to Lyoko. It was before the digital sea and the Replikas, before XANA escaped, before Aelita. It stressed him out, killed his grades, made him sick. Nobody tried to understand him, and nobody would let him leave.

Back then, there was still time to shut off the computer. There was still time to forget it all, to live a normal life. He could make himself useless, he could stop defending Yumi and Odd, he could let them be devirtualized and then Jeremie would never call upon him again.

So when William fell before him and cried for forgiveness, Ulrich gave it to him. After all, there was a time that Ulrich, of his own volition, would've let them all burn.

New Prompt: Coin
Character: Sissi

[ArgentDandelion offline]

Prompt: Coin
Character: Sissi

Sissi sulked, her head on her hands. She sat at a table occupied mainly by coin-collector dweebs, which, strangely, all seemed to bear some resemblance to Herb. At least, as far as she cared.

For the present World History assignment, the students were expected to form group projects about the histories of different monetary systems and currencies. After some discussion of aboriginal American tribes' use of money made of clam shells, (an esoteric topic that repelled her by the second sentence uttered on the subject) they eventually settled on the histories of the franc and euro. "You know what, Sissi...I think your hair is valuable enough for use as currency." Sissi glared at Herb. "It's so shiny too, just like a coin is."

"Will you please be quiet!" Sissi yelled at him. Herb, frightened, moved away and nearly fell off his chair.

"Hmmm?" as if a verbal glare, the teacher's loud utterance startled Sissi.

"I see you want me to be quiet, Sissi." the teacher stated, annoyance wrapped around her calm, professional tone. "Clearly, you know better on the subject of American currency than I do. Come on up here."

Sissi, nervousness wracking her brain, approached the board.

"In general, how did the American populace react to the Susan B. Anthony coin?" the teacher asked her lightly.

"Uh...uh...." Sissi looked over the drawings. Most of them were of men in weird wigs. One of them, an unfinished drawing, had some sort of ponytail that rather resembled a baby for some reason. The Susan B. Anthony one must be the one that showed a girl.

Sissi turned around to address the class. "The American people loved the Susan B. Anthony coin because it had a girl on it! In America, the girls spend more, so they're more important, and the girls in America were all sick of the weird men in wigs on their currency."

"I very much appreciated your explanation, Sissi." the teacher stated. Sissi, surprised, decided to smile. "It shows just how deep the depths of your ignorance are." the teacher added.

Everyone laughed, especially Odd and Ulrich. Sissi returned to her table to fume. "I didn't laugh, Sissi---" Herb started to say. "Quiet!" Sissi commanded curtly. Herb shrank down and stared at the coin diagrams on the table.

Prompt: Night
Characters: Jim

[Stonecreek]

Prompt: Night
Character: Jim
Words: 275
Rating: K+

The flashlight felt heavier than usual in Jim's hand as he patrolled the Kadic grounds past student curfew. With no activity whatsoever to report, his mind was left to wander to such pressing thoughts as, Why don't the faculty have curfew as well? I know some of them could use the sleep, and Oh that is a peculiar little mutt over there.

Then his brain switched back on, and he noticed just who was walking that way-too-familiar dog. As if anyone else would have a pet that ugly looking, or willingly style their hair in that fashion. He stealthily flipped off his flashlight and crept up on the boy and his charge. They were sequestered in some nearby bushes and had not noticed his approach. He was now within earshot of Odd's whispered one-sided conversation, and for a moment, he was stalled.

"Lousy Kiwi, always have to go do your business like clockwork right when I want to go to sleep. If it's not you, it's Ulrich disturbing my rest." Odd's hair swayed back and forth as he shook his head. "C'mon, buddy, let's get back in. Didn't think I'd need a jacket this time of year." He rubbed his shoulders and made to turn around as the dog tugged homewards on his leash.

Jim ducked behind the foliage as the duo passed. He watched them enter the dorms as quietly as he had been observing them, hand held to his chin. Jim stood back up and dusted off his pants and resumed his rounds, lost in thought again.

Sometimes the kids punish themselves better than any disciplinary measure I could give out ever would.

[ArgentDandelion offline]

Stonecreek, I owe you.
Prompt: Debating which Lyoko vehicle or power is best
Character(s): All Lyoko Warriors

"I don't need any powers," Odd stated, "climbing might not be showy, but it's the perfect ability. What if you want to surprise a monster?"

"Then you run below the Krab's legs and stab it in its underside, or leap on its back." Ulrich replied.

"But what if you don't want to be seen? If you're up in the branches, they can't see you. You can't shoot what you can't see."

"They can't shoot what they can't track."

"We should test this. Then we can figure out once and for all whose power is the best."

"You're on, Odd."

Yumi shrugged from behind them, a little tired of their boyish banter. Aelita, beside Yumi, simply smiled at their competitive spirit.

"Super Sprint!" Ulrich raced forward, dashed on the surface of the safe water, rushed up the stump platform, and leaped from step to step in a yellow contrail's blur until he reached the tower. He stayed there for a moment before looping back to the others. "Think you can beat that, Odd?"

"You know I have no doubt about it," Odd retorted back, dropping onto all fours and running towards and up a tree. He then sprang from tree to tree, rolling midair in his momentum and eventually launched himself off a tree adjacent to the tower with a spinning descent. He struck a victorious pose at the tower before running back.

"What about you, Yumi?" Ulrich inquired. Yumi said nothing, instead immediately initiating her performance. Leg upon leg and arm upon arm wheeled across the green of the Forest Sector. She stopped briefly at the edge of the water to assume a jumping stance. Airborne, she grabbed the edge of the stump, swerved herself forward, and pushed off again. She repeated this for each step and executed a pirouette flourish once she reached the tower. She returned to her audience with a series of acrobatic rolls and handstands.

"Is that good enough for you?" Yumi asked the two of them. "Showy, but not speedy." Odd concluded. "It's not fast, but her movements would make her difficult to shoot at." Ulrich pointed out. "We'll always difficult to shoot at, aren't we? Surely it wouldn't make that much of a difference." Odd countered.

"Monsters may be good at shooting horizontally, but Kankrelats, Megatanks and Bloks are not so good at shooting vertically."

"What do you mean?" Odd asked.

Aelita started to run. With a pass over her bracelet, Aelita's pink wings of energy extended outward. With one flap, her running momentum transferred to flight. She swayed left and right as she flew directly to the tower, bypassing the stumps altogether. She circled the top and glided back.

"Who cares if you can climb if you can fly?" Odd conceded. Aelita smiled.
(Is that good enough?)
Prompt: Tolerance
Characters: Sissi[/i]

[Stonecreek]

Happy New Year - I am writing this thing. And sorry for bastardizing Robert Frost.

Prompt: Tolerance
Character: Sissi
Words: 125
Rating: T

Tolerance and Sissi were not two words often put together in the same sentence. Perhaps it was because that, outwardly, she wasn't a very tolerant person. Anyone whose likes, thoughts, or personality clashed with hers was handled by Sissi with derision.

The same, conversely, could be said of how others dealt with the girl. She was merely tolerated by many and even then only in public when her father was around. The two-way street that was Kadic's tolerance for and from Sissi was indeed the road less traveled.

A severe case of boredom, an extra glass of wine at dinner, and torn out pages of her diary later, Sissi thought she'd found the true meaning of the world. And that had made all the difference.

New prompt: Fire
Characters: Any duo, couple or not.

[ArgentDandelion offline]

Prompt: Fire
Character: Any duo, couple or not


"I don't want to die..." Ulrich forlornly said. He could hear the flames growing in hunger outside the shed, even as they fed on the timber barricading the door.

"Neither do I! I still have lots of girls to meet!"

"Odd!" Ulrich yelled. "Quit that! We...we need to think logically!"

Odd quieted at Ulrich's reprimand, but soon regained his jocular pep. "We shouldn't worry too much anyway. Yumi and Aelita will take out the monsters and deactivate the tower on Lyoko. That's what always happens."

"Yeah, but...there's always a first." Ulrich muttered, hope receding.

"But why would there be? You know what Einstein said about Aelita being the best Lyoko Warrior. Monsters shouldn't be a problem."

"What if it's not a monster? What if it's a possessed person, or a polymorphic specter?"

"On Lyoko? There was only one time a polymorphic specter got into Lyoko, and you took care of that."

"Just because I can take care of it doesn't mean Yumi can!" Ulrich yelled, concern permeating his voice and face.

Odd rested a hand on Ulrich's shoulder. "Have faith in Yumi, good buddy. And Aelita and Jeremie, too. Any time now we'll see a big bubble of white coming to save us."

Ulrich sat. All he could do now was wait, wait and listen to the steady, approaching roar of the flames outside.


Prompt: Concern
Character: William

[LadyLucy offline]

Prompt: Concern
Character: William

"Oh Ulrich dear!!"
That annoying voice again. William winced as it pierced his already pounding brain. What was wrong with her? He glared from under his messy black bangs at the girl who was waltzing towards another boy a few feet away. She liked Ulrich. Yumi liked Ulrich. Half the other girls in the whole school liked Ulrich. Sulkily, William looked down at his feet, trying to ignore the headache that was still pounding away in his temples, and kicked at the tiny rocks at the ground.
What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he find one girl who saw something in him instead? Furious at life, he cursed softly as his headache increased.
"William?"
A different voice, female but lower and quieter, sunk slowly through the pain in his head. He blinked, and looked up.
"Yumi." The anger from before vanished and despite his constant best efforts to get over her, his heart flipped. He tried for a smile, then noticed the look on her face. "Yumi?" Her dark almond shaped eyes avoided his, and her fists clenched even as she folded her arms. Concern hit William like a brick. "What's wrong, Yumi, is it Ulrich, is he is being a-" Yumi's eyes flashed, and William wisely swallowed the word he had been about to use.
"No, William," she said after a moment, her arms folding even tighter in front of her. William raised an eyebrow and waited. "I...I um....um..."
"Yumi-chan!!" A new voice, heavily accented and cheery, burst out in the air. The other students turned and stared at the girl who was now racing toward them, the many layers of her tiered black and red skirt bouncing. William's eyes slid from Yumi, and his jaw dropped.
"Yumi-chan!!" The girl skidded to a halt next to Yumi, and linked a fishnet and lace clad arm with Yumi's. She looked at the taller girl, and then looked at William. Her eyes, identical to Yumi's, widened for a moment, blinked, and then a slight flush covered a face far rounder and girlish- and yet as lovely- as Yumi's. She smiled politelty, and bowed.
William's heart flip flopped.
Yumi rolled her eyes and sighed an inner sigh of relief. "William Dunbar, I'd like you to meet my cousin, Itasawa Aiko. She just moved here from Tokyo."
William bowed, then smiled at the girl in front of him. Yumi who?
"Konnichiwa, Aiko-san," he said softly.
Aiko's shy smile widened. "Konnichiwa."

... ^^ Yay for Gothic Lolita girls who capture the hearts of emo boys. I hope this is okay for a drabble. It sure was fun.

um....
Prompt: Music
Character: Aelita and Jeremie OR Yumi and Ulrich.

[ArgentDandelion offline]

Excellent, another Drabble.
Prompt: Music
Character: Aelita and Jeremie

Wintry light streamed into the room, sieved by a blond curtain of bangs draped over the sleeping boy's eyes. The boy's eyelids shifted. He slowly brushed the bedhead-stricken hair aside. Sleep fogging his mind, he stared idly at the near, blurry wall for a minute. Then, clutching the covers over himself, he closed his eyes again, so he could relapse into his warm, comforting, still slumber.

Suddenly sounds from the piano downstairs percolated into his room. After a few resonant notes, he recognized the tune: Twelve Variations. Curious, the boy rolled beneath his covers to the edge of his bed and lifted a fine-fingered hand to grasp his spectacles on the bedside desk. Sitting up, he equipped their dark oval frames to his eyes and made a brief, cursory stretch. His sight and his mind were sharper now, and became sharper still with alertness as he shod himself into his slippers and scaled down the stairs.

He spotted a bob of glossy pink hair at the piano. His amicable elf-girl was the one playing the piano. She seemed to have no need for notes, although he had noticed she made a few small mistakes. She was so focused on her playing that she did not even notice her pajama-clad digerati walk up to her. Finally, he found a pause in her playing.

"You do know it's too early for breakfast, don't you?"

She smiled as she looked---beautifully, if a little tiredly---at him.

"Let me guess---nightmares again?"

She gave a soft, murmuring grunt of confirmation as she nodded, now frowning.

"My mother used to give me hot chocolate when I had nightmares," the boy remarked. "I'm not sure if it worked, but it did taste great---" He stood up, closing his eyes and pointing his index finger up in a proud, demonstrative manner---"and I know how to make it!"

Prompt: Cheese (as in food or the synonym for theatrical ham; whichever is preferred)
Characters: Any

[LadyLucy offline]

Prompt: Cheese (as in food or the synonym for theatrical ham; whichever is preferred)
Characters: Any

"And we are doing what about what tonight?"
Odd rolled his eyes and turned to grin at his roommate. Ulrich was leaning against the wall to their door room, looking half awake with his hair half in his face. When he saw the blond grinning boy smirk at him, he just glared back, struggling to make his brain work.
"There is no way that I'm joining some cheesy film club just because-"
"Yumi's in it," Odd said slyly, his grin widening. Ulrich shot him a death glare, trying to ignore the bribe and the little jolt he always felt at the thought of Yumi. He shook his head, and folded his arms.
"Well, there's gonna be food, with fruit and a cheese tray and stuff." Odd grinned proudly. "That was my idea!"
"Oh that's good, Odd," Ulrich muttered wryly. "Cheese and ham goes together, right? 'Cause the films are cheesy and you're a ham, Della-Robbia."
Odd ignored this, still grinning. "Oh, Aelita and Jeremie are going to the reception for it too, so at least if you go, then the whole gang'll be there, and we can gang up on Sissy."
Ulrich hesitated, a small smirk lacing up his face in spite of himself. "You're just saying that because she's your rival in the humor catagory."
Odd's cheeks turned slightly pink at this, but he ignored it. "Rival-shimval, Ulrich, you're stalling. Are you coming or not?"
Ulrich hesitated, then shrugged. "Yeah, I guess it'd be-"
"Ulrich, my good buddy, you won't regret it!" Odd bounced up, mock-punched Ulrich on the shoulder, and ran out of the room as fast as lightening. Ulrich watched the door shut slowly, already regretting it. "This is gonna be interesting."

Prompt: Snow
Charicters: anybody

[green offline]

Prompt: Snow
Charicters: anybody

Writing this completely off memory since I haven't watched the episodes in a while, go easy?

The first time Aelita encountered snow after the shutdown of the supercomputer brought about a surprising amount of nostalgia. She found herself reminiscing over old memories of her mother and father in a quiet, secluded mountain home. She couldn't have been any older than four, making messy snowballs and lots of squat little snowmen around the yard, her two loving parents watching on with smiles. Running out of snow was never a concern, there was always fresh powder to play in by morning. Aelita can't help but think this was a better time, when there was no worry of men in black suits coming to drag her father away in the night and her mother could often be found waiting for her with a warm mug of hot chocolate on a cold day and no shortage of hugs. The two of them just being there was enough.

It's a painful reminder, sometimes, of what she's lost. But when she's standing in the courtyard, lost in thought, and she finds herself suddenly impacted with a snowball and drawn into the impending battle, it's hard for her to imagine she'd give up these four amazing friends making fools of themselves in the cold for anything.

Prompt: Lights
Character: any