#desstober

And because it’s Desstober, here’s the other POV that Scene in All’s Fair :D Y’all have @servantofclio to thank for this :P Please enjoy!

“Okay, Casanova, prove it,” Hannah said.

Dess didn’t know what Casanova meant, but the challenge stopped her cold in her tracks.

Did . . . did Han just . . . ask Dess to prove she was a good kisser? Did she really want Dess to kiss her?

Han’s rapidly coloring cheeks and neck told Dess she’d suddenly realized what she’d said. But she kept her eyes set on the dishes she was cleaning in front of her, and Dess couldn’t get a better look at her face. Was it a joke? Did she mean it? Should Dess play it off as not serious? Should she take the challenge and pretend like it was nothing? It was probably nothing.

“I . . . I can. If . . . that’ll convince you?” Fuck. Dess knew she had never sounded less convincing in her life. Great, Dess. Good job. Now she probably feels weird. You made it weird.

Dess had never seen Han’s face as red as it was now. Yeah, Dess had definitely made it weird. Double fuck. How did she walk this back? How did she let Han know everything was fine, that Dess didn’t actually think she was being serious? That she didn’t want to kiss Han, not really, and that she hadn’t imagined it more times than she cared to count?

Dess opened her mouth to say . . . something, anything to make things less weird, when Han finally looked up and gave a breathy, nervous laugh.

“Yeah, why not?” she said, grabbing a dishtowel as she turned toward Dess to dry them. “Lay one on me. Show me what you got. It’s just a kiss.”

Just a kiss. Of course it was just a kiss. It wasn’t like Dess hadn’t kissed others before. Kissing didn’t do anything for her then, so why would it do anything for her now, with Han? She just had to play it cool. Once their mutual curiosity was satisfied, that would be it. Easy. No weirdness.

Dess nodded and stood, turning to face Han. “Just don’t blame me if you fall for me.” What the fuck was that? It definitely wasn’t playing it cool.

Han’s expression softened from terrified to something that looked close to disappointed. “You don’t have to do it if it makes you uncomfortable,” she said, her voice serious but reassuring. “I know I’m a squishy alien and—”

Fuck it. Dess’s pressed her mouth against Han’s before she could finish offering Dess a way out—she didn’t want a way out, and she didn’t want Han thinking she did.

Today’s prompt is brought to you courtesy of @servantofclio! And it’s just in time for Halloween :D Please enjoy <3

Humans had been trickling onto the Citadel since the resolution of the Shanxi conflict, but once the human embassy opened, that trickle had turned into a steady flow. Like every other race before them, they congregated in the same neighborhoods, quickly forming enclaves where they could share familiar food, culture, and values.

Dess could understand the compulsion to look for likeness in an unfamiliar world—it was intimidating to look around and see no one like, seemingly, like you.

Most of the Citadel’s residents were indifferent to the way humans carried on their own business and the things they introduced—cuisine, fashion, literature, traditions. Even different religious practices went unremarked upon by most of the Citadel’s population. (One incident, in which a group of humans dropped stones into the Citadel reservoirs, caused a small ripple of concern for the station’s water source, but once it was ascertained the humans had deliberately chosen porous rocks to act as natural filters, everyone wished them a blessed new year and didn’t think about it again.)

But this . . . this was different.

Over the course of a week, Han and Alli’s home acquired progressively stranger decor. From small orange lights lining the walls and shelves to paper cutouts of small black animals Dess didn’t recognize pinned to the walls to lumpy, orange orbs with grotesque, geometric faces cut into them sitting outside the front door, Dess was sure to find something new that didn’t make sense to her nearly every day. Dess thought it might be rude to ask about the sudden change of interior design, so she kept her confusion to herself . . . until Alli’s long red hair turned black and curly.

Alli rushed to the door in an odd outfit—a short, sleeveless dress that was dark red in the bodice and dark blue in the skirt, complete with greaves for her legs, shiny wrist guards for her arms, and a small crown across her forehead with zigzags in the middle. She crossed her arms in front of her in what Dess assumed (or rather, hoped) was a greeting.

“Hey, Ms. Dess, look what I can do today!” Alli said and turned, her corona shimmering as she jumped higher and landed slower than most other children her age could possibly do.

Han peeked from around the corner in the kitchen. “Okay, Diana,” she said, obviously exasperated, but still indulgent. “See if you can’t lasso up some place settings for dinner.”

Alli hurried into the kitchen and Dess followed her, stopping at the sight of Han. It might’ve been jarring to see Alli so oddly dressed but Han was . . . arresting. She wore a blue body suit with bright red gloves and boots. A gold band ran across her shoulders, meeting in a starburst in the middle of her chest. The suit was bright red from her shoulders all the way up her long neck, and her hair was pulled and twisted and pinned so tightly behind her, save for a few short locks falling just below her ear on one side, that for a moment Dess thought she must’ve cut it that short.

There was one other article of clothing Han wore—a red sash draped loosely across her hips and held together by a gold medallion on one side—that Dess was careful to avoid looking at directly to keep from gawking.

“Have I . . . entered an alternate universe?” she said, careful to keep her voice even.

Han glanced over her shoulder from where she stood at the stove, pressing sandwiches into a pan. She laughed. “I guess in a sense you have. It’s Halloween!”

I was stuck in eight hours of useless training yesterday, but at least I got to write longhand while pretending to take notes. So, yes, this is yesterday’s prompt, but it’s still one that I really liked. Enjoy :D @bloomingcnidarians, @pagerunner, @servantofclio

Aside from Hadrian’s kids, Dess hadn’t spent much time around children. Not that she disliked them, but they just weren’t a part of her life for the most part. When Han asked her to look after Alli for a few days while she went to Arcturus, Dess had agreed without hesitation. Then, as it occurred to her that she was suddenly entirely responsible for a child, her internal alarm bells started ringing.

Luckily, as far as kids went, Alli was good . . . during occasional visits. Dess had no idea about meal schedules, bed times, hygiene, allergies, homework, nutrition, extracurricular activities, enrichment—Spirits, she was going to break Alli, wasn’t she? Even if Han was only on Arcturus for a few days, Dess was certain she’d screw it up.

Dess glanced down at Alli and noticed her hand was red and scraped. “Alli what’s wrong with your fingers? They’re pinker than normal.”

Alli turned her hand and frowned. “I got in a fight.”

Great, Dess thought. That seems like something she should leave to Han to deal with, but she didn’t know when she’d be back. What do you ask a kid who’s been in a fight?

Dess sighed. She couldn’t say nothing at all. “Are you all right?”

Alli didn’t answer the question but just kept her eyes on the door where Han had left in a hurry without any explanation only moments ago. Dess just knew she’d said the wrong thing.

Spirits, she should not have kids.

IT LOOKS SO GREEN.

It does! It’s always incredible to me how much of a difference a little rain can make here. It can be like night and day sometimes.

pagerunner replied to your post “Desstober update”

oooh i'm going for drama (or possibly overdramatic silliness): “I heard enough, this ends now.”

Oooh, you know what, I had trouble with this prompt earlier this month, but now I have an idea that I really like! Thank you :D

thehoundmistress replied to your post “Desstober update”

I like “I felt it. You know what I mean”!

And I’m excited about this new fic, even if it’s not by Halloween!

I love the idea of 'Some people call this wisdom' (Long live Desstober!)

"This is not new, it only feels like it" and perhaps "I know how you love to play games" please and thank you? (last one seems like a good chance for more banter :D)

Okay, so I’m having so much fun with Desstober, and I’m writing more than I have in months. I’d like to finish this month with a flourish, but that means I’ll have to back off from the daily-ish prompts so that I can finish this seven-or-so-chapter fic (I referred to it here a couple times at the gala fic). I’m several chapters into it already, and I think if I put as much time into this story as I have been with these prompts, I can easily finish it by Halloween :D

But I don’t want to completely abandon the daily prompts either because they’re a ton of fun (and if I get stuck on the gala fic, at least I’ll have something to write for the day :P). So, below is the list of Fictober prompts I’ve been using. I’ll do the ones y’all request between now and the end of Desstober. If you like, you can request other characters for the fic too so I get an idea of the direction you’d like me to take the prompt :D

“Can you feel this?”

“People like you have no imagination.”

“How can I trust you?”

“Will that be all?”

“Take what you need.”

“I heard enough, this ends now.”

“No worries, we still have time.”

“I know you do.”

“You shouldn’t have come here.”

“You think this troubles me?”

“But I will never forget!”

“Who could do this?”

“Try harder, next time.”

“Some people call this wisdom.”

“I thought you had forgotten.”

“This is gonna be so much fun!”

“I’ll tell you but you’re not gonna like it.”

“You should have seen it.”

“Oh please, like this is the worst I have done.”

“I hope you have a speech prepared.”

“Impressive, truly.”

“I know how you love to play games.”

“This is not new, it only feels like it.”

“You know this, you know this to be true.”

“Go forward, do not stray.”

“But if you cannot see it, is it really there?”

“Remember, you have to remember.”

“I felt it. You know what I mean.”

“At least it can’t get any worse.”

“Do we really have to do this again?”

“I’ve waited so long for this.”

@bloomingcnidarians, @thehoundmistress, @pagerunner, @thievinghippo, @thisonelikesaliens, @servantofclio