#fff60

A/N: So, another entry for this @flashfictionfridayofficial​ prompt. This time, here’s a poem. (sorry, I’m a little too incoherent to write stories or fics, atm) This was what I could come up with in the last twenty minutes.

Word Count: 112

TW: Potential Angst (???)

***

A house's tattered windows Fling open and shut By the heavy wind Hiding a troubled room

On the worn armchair A pale skeleton sits Alone with no company Completely sinking in misery

A wary human occupies A dim room above Their head resting on A fine ancient pillow 

Their mind racing with Haunted thoughts slowly poisoning Their heart and soul Weighing down their being

Beneath the soft skin Also lays soft bones That belies a strength Full of steel dignity

In a metaphorical closet With dusty skeletons residing Remember that the bones Are soft and firm

The impact of it Remains long enough to Be a constant reminder Of the gloomy past

Thank you all once again for your amazing and fantastic contributions! It was a  pleasure to read them! If we missed your entry, please let us know!  Also, consider to check out your fellows’ pieces and hit that like  button to make a writer happy! And don’t forget the end of the month masterlist with flash fics written for old prompts. If you feel creative tag us as well and you will get a showcase at the end of the month.

You've forgotten now, that – by @astralis-elysian​

Game of Strategy – by @skaifeyth​

Every Night – by @themidnxghtwriter​

Old Bones – by @bigboldgold​

Hot in the Kitchen – by @pamelawalkerwrites​

What's This? – by @writekitwrite​

Bantan – by @clad-in-sunshine​

Soft Bones – by @pheita​

Soft Bones Indeed – by @writingamongthecoloredroses​

Decaying Love – by  @wolfishwrites​

In Every Life – by @emberv​

Soft Bones – by @random-chaos-thoughts​

Stay Soft – by  @itsokaytobefreak​

Soft Bones – by  @stories-by-rie​

Let's find that damn map! –  by @soul-write​

On Persimmons, plums and puppies – by @woodhouse-jay​

Soft Bones – by @jewellsfrommaruss​

Soft Bones – by @phantom-does-a-thing​

Bargain with the Devil – by @starklyscifi​

Secrets of Soft – by @meteor-writes​

The Women in the River – by  @pamsdrabbles

In the Name of a better Future – by @atalossforwords​

On the Record – by @a-j-quill​

The Key to Loving Someone – by @unceuponanaromantic

The Accidents that happen – by @starlightswitch​

Brittle Bones – by @enchanted-lightning-aes​

Soft Bones break too – by @musings-and-writings​

Softly the Flood builds – by @goblin-writer​

*This week, I used characters from a WIP of mine, a scifi novella I’ve been playing with for a while. Wheeeee, enjoy! - A.J. Quill

You know what adds insult to injury when you’re being chased? thought Mim, growing impatient. Locked doors.

Thankfully, the locked doors in question sprang open with a single blast from her phaser gun. She grabbed her partner by the scruff of his neck, and threw them both into the room beyond.

They hit the floor as one, and Mim just barely kicked the doors shut behind them in time to block enemy fire. Good thing their phasers aren’t as strong as ours, she mused, as a blast ricocheted off the outside.

“The pain is excruciating, thank you for asking,” snapped Sparrow. Her partner lay beside her, all his long limbs splayed except for the one arm. The broken arm.

Mim refused to look at it, abdicating guilt. Instead, she rose to her knees, scanning the room for the thing they’d come all this way for in the first place.

Drinking coffee is a tricky thing. Doubly so when you've run eight blocks to be on time because of a subway derailment and are desperately trying not to show any of it. Lilli glared at the shake in her hand as she reset the China cup on the saucer.  

The hawk eyes with the perfectly pressed suit saw the movement. She was sure of it, even if he was laser focused on his phone.

“I can get it to you on Saturday, for the base price.”

“What about Thursday?”

“Oh, no, can’t. Booked through the week. If Saturday doesn't work, I can do next Wednesday.”

“Well, I guess it’s Saturday.”

“Brilliant,” he said, smiling wide with teeth a shade too white.

Maybe she should ask about the price? The quoted one wasn’t bad, but wasn’t this always a negotiation?

“Anyway, pleasure to meet you,” he said, getting up and laying a bill on the table to cover his foul smelling tea. “See you Saturday.”

She sat there as he left, frustration dawning as she realized they’d come full circle and ended right where she’d been trying to budge him from.

The old Russian woman in the corner, all sharp angles and hard eyes, got up from her table where she’d been staring at Lilli during the whole meeting.

“Soft bones.”

“What?”

“You have soft bones. Weak.”

“What’s it to you?”

In her head, it sounded tough. Out loud, it sounded like a teenage boy quoting a gangster movie. Her voice was high enough.

The old woman sat down in the vacated seat and leaned close, hot breath hitting Lilli’s face. “That was not a human.” She leaned back, smug.

“I know.”

The woman’s brows knit together. “Then you bite off more than you can break.”

“Chew,” Lilli said, annoyed. Defensive. Hating her sweaty palms and the uncontrollable flush.

The woman looked at her, eyes devoid of the annoyance she’d try to stir up.

“The saying is ‘bit off more than you can chew’,” she clarified, as the old woman sniffed the leftover tea, muttered in her native language. “Fine. You seem to know everything, how do I fix it?”

“Not fix. Just choice,” she muttered, still shaking her head.

“Why do people keep saying that? Like this is easy!”

“Just choice,” the old woman repeated, rising from the table.

Something clinked against the saucer of her coffee cup. She glanced down to see a charm dangling off the plate.

“You need this.”

“I don’t—”

"You need this," she said firmly, accent as thick as ever. She turned and left the cafe, the waiter dropping both their bills on her table.

“Guess it’s the charge for the charm,” she muttered to herself.

“Oh honey, that's free.”

She hadn’t realized the waiter was still within hearing distance, dropping her wallet as she fumbled for her card.

“Mine at least,” the waiter said, cocking a hip and brushing the black hair out of his eyes, “Hers are inexpensive, given the quality.”

"Do you have one?" she asked, as he swept up the bills.  

He laughed. “I work in every non-human's favorite place for a working lunch, I couldn’t afford not to have a few.”

She noticed a rattling key-chain dangling from his hip as he sauntered away. She picked up the charm on her own table, weighing it in her hand.

“They do help, especially with those soft bones,” he tossed over his shoulder.

She slammed the charm back down, rattling the table.

“Why does everyone think I'm weak?”

“Aren't you?” the waiter asked, setting the receipt in front of her. She stared at the charm with its dried flower and tiny skull of some unknown creature.

“No, I'm not,” she said, as firm as possible. Her voice still wavered.

He patted her on the shoulder. “Take the charm. You'll be fine.”

Yeah I don’t really know about this one.  I don’t like it but I saw it and after a lot of thinking debating if I was going to do it (since I’ve been kinda taking a bit of time off tumblr) I remembered the crinkley bones thing so whatever. @flashfictionfridayofficial​

203 words

“Woah Chris, what on earth happened to you?” Sharon exclaimed as the bell above the door rang.

“Ah,” Chris coughed awkwardly, “it’s kind of a funny story.”

Dave peeked around the shelves to the door.

Chris’ arm was in a sling with a purple cast.  

“When did this happen?” Sharon asked.

“Last friday…” Chris scratched at the back of his neck, “but it’s fine.  I’ve broken a lot of bones before.”

“Dude, how did it happen?” Dave leaned against the shelf.

“Oh, Katyln and I were cliff diving and uh… my arm got caught…” he winced and shrugged, “but really it’s fine.  I’m used to it.”

“You’re used to it?” Sharon raised one eyebrow, glancing to the side at Dave.  He shrugged.

“Yeah, when I was younger I broke bones all the time,” Chris rocked back and forth on the heels of his feet, “I’ve just got soft bones.”

Sharon made a noise between a choke and a snort, “What is it with you and bones Chris!”

“What do you mean?”

Dave let out a shaky breath trying to hold in his laughter.

Chris looked between Dave and Sharon, then he smiled and laughed.

(Written for @flashfictionfridayofficial​‘s prompt: FFF60: Soft Bones. A little bit from Superheroverse featuring Siren’s backstory and one (1) adorable badass vigilante assassin who I honestly love writing. Enjoy!)

Their first kiss is part joke part experiment. Their noses bump and their foreheads knock until they figure out how to angle their faces just right. They giggle as their lips separate, constantly readjusting and trying to see how they can press their (dry, chapped) lips together to resemble a kiss.

 Their kisses get more dramatic. Nyx pulls Siren’s hand and bows exaggeratedly to flip their hand over and drop a kiss to the smooth underside of their wrist. Siren smirks and trips her, sliding Nyx forward to raise a kiss to her cheek when they’re both on their way to dinner.

 Once, when they spar and Nyx has won, she pins Siren to the ground with a palm to their shoulder and grins as she kissed their sweat-soaked forehead. Siren rolls their eyes and spins their body to push her off and Nyx goes, still laughing.

 Nothing much changes when they start dating. Nyx flutters a litany of kisses down the line of their neck and wraps her arms around their body when they curl up together on the sofa. Siren learns the lines of her spine and the edges of her ribs where they kiss an artwork onto their girlfriend’s body. Nyx runs cold fingers down the lines of their cheeks and tuck their head under her chin.

 (“Your bones are so soft.” Nyx says once, rolling over to run her fingers over Siren’s scalp. The blankets tangle around her legs.

 Siren laughs and asks, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

 Nyx pulls her right hand out of Siren’s hair to caress their arm. She kisses their wrist where there’s a slight line where their body armour and gloves overlap on normal days. “It means that you’re my best friend, whatever else happens. Don’t ever let the world harden you.”)

 When Nyx gets injured while acting in her professional capacity, Siren tends to her injuries. Nocte does the actual medical part, of course, but Siren does the ‘carrying their very grumpy girlfriend around while her legs heal’ bits. And the ‘kiss her injuries better’ bits. And the ‘laugh at her when she complains that the broken bone part isn’t even a place she wanted strengthened now her bones are going to have unequal density’ bits.

 They mutually agree to stop dating because they don’t need to be dating in order to get comfort and love from each other. They know each other’s minds and movements; they don’t need to be dating in order to learn other parts of each other.

 When Siren leaves for the first time, Nyx pulls them into a tight hug and presses a firm kiss to the shell of their ear. “You will always be welcome here, no matter what.”

 Siren holds onto their best friend tightly, and they both pretend that they’re not crying. If Nocte notices that her younger sister’s smile is a bit more forced and that her strikes are a little more violent in the weeks that happen after Siren’s departure, she quietly cleans the blood from Nyx’s nails and from the floor and does not say anything.

 Nyx does not kiss Siren while they’re recovering in the month after Nyx dragged her body from the shallows. She grips Siren a little too tight and she doesn’t leave their side for the entire time they can, yes. She murmurs how she knew that trying to be a superhero was a bad idea and really, Siren is always welcome back, yes. She talks more than ever and pulls Siren close to her whenever she has any excuse, yes. They don’t need to kiss.

“You knew this was a possibility.” Siren says when they can finally speak again, voice still hoarse from the various attempts to strangle and choke them.

Nyx sniffs. “Superheroes.”

Siren’s laugh echoes through the marrow of Nyx’s bones. “They have their uses. You know like not needing to hide all the time.”

Nyx snorts. “I’ve seen the excuses for armour. Spare me. Being a demon is far better.”

She taps her fingernails against the head of the bed, holding on to Siren for as long as she can.

 When Siren leaves for the second time, they lean in and tilt their head to press their lips to Nyx’s. This kiss is gentle and quiet, perfect for two people who’s lives have never been gentle or quiet. Siren rests their hands on Nyx’s waist, pulling her close. Nyx keeps her eyes open, trying to memorise every last detail, every silvery edge of every scar, every last twitch of their eyelashes before she has to let go again.

 When they separate, Siren’s fingers twined loosely at Nyx’s back, they watch each other. Not as they would normally watch other people, not taking in their weaknesses and strengths and evaluating how to best kill them (Nyx) or how to get the information they seek (Siren). No, they watch each other with the fondness of two people who already know each other like an extension of their selves.

 “I have to go.”

“I know.”

“I don’t want to.”

“I know.”

“I love you.”

“I know.”

 Nyx gently pulls Siren to her and abruptly hugs them tightly. “Stay in contact this time, okay? I… dislike only finding out about you when you’re in severe danger or badly hurt.”

anyway, the prompt for this week is soft bones! i'll put a content warning in for this one- it involves cannibalism and a death mention.