#jambuds

not taking their music recs seriously gives them the ick

JAMWEEK DAY 1 "EXPLORATION OR DANCE"

Prompt list by @jambudweek

I gonna try to do this list

Reblogs are appreciated!

The dorm room was bathed in the hues of the warm summer morning. Cozy oranges crept over stacks of books, her made-up bed and obscure anime posters. Birds sang their sweet songs atop the blossoming trees outside her open window and the gentle breeze ruffled her hair.

Connie awoke with a start. No pillow in sight, just cool wood beneath her forehead. She'd fallen asleep at her desk...again. Surrounded by towering books and empty coffee mugs. She groaned. Three missed calls. The fourth had roused her from her sleep.

"Hey…" She said groggily, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Good morning Connie!" Steven chirped. How he could be so cheerful this early in the morning was beyond her.

"Morning Steven…"

He laughed.

"You sound dead. Pulled another all nighter?"

"Mmm…" She replied. "Assignment due."

"I won't keep you then. Juuuust checking we were still on for tonight."

Her eyes snapped wide open with panic. She sat bolt upright in her chair at whiplash speed.

Crap! She'd forgotten all about that! Friday night was their weekly meet-up!

"L-look Steven…" She stuttered, attempting to hide her panic. "...I've got a lot of stuff due soon. As well as the next DnD session to plan."

"C'mon Connie…" He teased. She knew damn well he was making those irresistible puppy-dog eyes over the phone. "... I'll bring the new Dogcopter…"

She let out a snort of laughter.

"How old are we Steven?"

"Old enough to appreciate how cute Drew and Dogcopter are together!"

It was probably against her better judgement, after all it wasn't like she wasn't busy. But she couldn't let him down...maybe she needed a break too.

"Fiiine." She sighed, dramatically throwing her head back. "You can come over tonight...just because I know you love weddings."

She immediately regretted saying that. 

He fell silent.

Memories of his proposal came flooding back to her. The shock and guilt she felt, the smile on his face falling and the tears pricking his eyes.

They hadn't spoken about it since that day, neither of them had wanted to bring it up following Steven's corruption. But it was still there...hanging above them with unspoken tension.

They'd have to talk about it one day...but not today.

After what felt like ages...he replied. Forcing a chipper mood which clearly wasn't there.

"Great!" He said, in a voice that seemed too happy; even for him. "I'll see you at 6 then."

"Yeah...see you then."

6:30 saw a sweaty and breathless Steven burst through the door, tightly clinging onto a small paper bag. 

"Connie?" He called out, placing the bag and the keys on the kitchen counter. "Sorry I'm late! The jam lady at the Artisan market had dropped her house keys. I spent an hour helping her look, then she found them in her pocket!"

He laughed.

No response.

"Cooonnie? He called again in a singsongy voice.

He peeked around the corner, searching her small living room. 

"Oh Connie…"

His gaze fell upon Connie lounging on the sofa. Asleep. Snoring. LOUDLY. Laptop balanced precariously on her lap. He chuckled quietly to himself, guessing the several empty coffee mugs surrounding her hadn't been enough to keep her awake.

With a grin, he hoisted her into his arms. Super strength had its perks. Being able to lift his sleeping girlfriend as if she was weightless was one of them.

Rousing from her slumber in the wrong place for the second time that day, Connie dragged her head from her pillow. 

"...How did I get here…" She mumbled to herself, positive she had not fallen asleep in bed.

She fumbled for her phone in the pocket of her hoodie, taking note of the time.

7:30

Crap!!

Steven!!

She launched herself out of bed, unkempt hair tumbling about her face and head heavy from her half-asleep state.

She threw open her door. 

Steven could only stare in confusion as his feral, weary-eyed girlfriend stood hunched over in the doorway.

"...Um...hi Connie." He smiled sheepishly, offering her a box. "I…uh...ordered a pizza."

Deep crimson crept up on her cheeks. She stood upright, brushed her hair behind her ears and folded her arms.

"Hi Steven…" She swallowed. "Did you...uh-"

"Take you to bed?" He finished, placing the pizza on the counter. "Yeah. You looked uncomfortable, so I carried you to your room."

He snorted, teasing her.

"I've never heard anyone snore that loud."

"Ugh." She groaned, hiding her face. "...I wasn't was I?"

"I thought Lion was here."

"Steven!" She laughed, landing a playful punch on his arm.

He staggered back, giving a faux grunt of pain.

"I warn you, brave Knight...this is not a battle you can win."

She rolled her eyes, slumping herself down on the sofa.

He continued his fake bravado.

"I say Knight...but your snores are akin to the roars of a dragon!"

"Are we watching Dogcopter or not?" She moaned, pulling him into a sofa cuddle.

"Noooo! The dragon has chosen me for her horde!"

Despite his devastation about his great defeat, he happily settled himself beside her. Allowing her arms to envelope around his middle, embracing him into a hug. She nuzzled into his neck as she did so, warm breath tickling his skin. He found himself blushing.

"Hold up." He said, dragging himself out of her grip. "Pizzas gonna get cold."

Connie sighed at the loss of contact. Her gaze followed him into the kitchen. He soon returned with the pizza, along with a brown paper bag.

He placed the pizza on the coffee table, opening the lid. Plain cheese. Not one of Connie's favorite pizzas, but Steven had gone vegetarian a couple of years back. It would do...for his sake.

"Got something for dessert too." 

He removed a packet of biscuits from the bag, alongside an expensive looking artisan jam.

"Nothing but the best for my girlfriend."

She flashed him a smile. Doing her best to block out the thoughts of his proposal once again. He'd bought her jam and biscuits then too…

He placed himself back beside her, snuggling into her touch and snapping her out of her thoughts.

She rested her head on his shoulder.

"Are we watching this or not Steven?"

He chuckled, reaching for the remote.

Connie hadn't realized how bad these movies were. The animation mistakes, the shoddy voice acting, how dumb the plot was. God, she was getting old.

Steven seemed to be enjoying it though. But then again, Steven would enjoy anything so long as the characters were cute.

They weren't even halfway through the movie when Connie began to drift off beside him, yawning and relaxing from behind him. Steven debated waking her up. But he knew she needed some rest. 

She was working herself too hard at the moment, so many deadlines and so many assignments. And now, she was sacrificing sleep for it.

He worried about her sometimes. One day, she'd burn herself out.

“Haven’t you noticed that I’m a star...”

@jambudweek - Day 7 - Future

( @jambudweek)

(shout out to my friend, @sweatersandstrawberries. they were a huge help to me, and they’re just all around awesome, like their art.)

Steven and Connie couldn’t wrap their heads around how she was able to go through that many books in such a short amount of time. It was rough enough to try to find proper books for Nora to read for her age level, but now, she’s read nearly every book in the house. Bedtime stories usually comprised of trying to find a story to read to her that she hadn’t already read 3 times that day. And it seems that they weren’t the only frustrated ones. Nora, herself, had taken the charge to find something else to read.

despite being 5, Pearl had been glowing about how advanced her reading comprehension had become for someone her age. It was something that they were proud of, truth be told. But for the most part, they were beginning to have a hard time trying to keep up. None the less, there were days where entire books were piling up in odd places. she had apparently binged her way through the ‘Spirit Morph Saga’ in a month, and also read ‘The No Home Boys’ series in a fraction of the time. The world was running out of stories for Nora to read. It wasn’t until one evening that things had to change.

It was 8:00. A time during the day that Steven and Connie had dread about. The only way Nora could get to sleep is if she either reads, or hears a bedtime story. And tonight, they were fresh out of books, and they won’t be able to go back to the library for a couple of days. The only saving grace was that Nora did find a stash of old keepsakes of her moms’ that she kept in the bottom drawer. strewn on the ground of Steven and Connie’s room were small piles of letters that were either sent, or have never seen the light of day. Pictures, short stories, and a diary that belonged to Connie when she was younger. Nora went through some of the letters before loosing interest and moved onto the main course: the diary. but as she opened the book and read 3 pages in, Connie had entered the room, looking for Nora. She took one look at what she held in her hand, and panicked.

“Whoa there, young lady!” Connie exclaimed with caution in her voice as she walked over and closed the book. “That’s really nothing for you to read!”

“But why not?” Nora protested. “It’s just a book.”

“It’s not just a book. It’s... More than that.” Connie said, unsure how to properly answer the question. “It’s something really personal and secret.”

“Secrets?” Nora said, her eyes lighting up. “Oh...now i really want to read it!”

“Um... you don’t really want to though.” Connie said, kneeling down to pick up Nora. She may be 5, but Connie is still as strong as she was when she was 20. “It’s got a ton of math stuff. And if i remember correctly, you don’t like math.”

“I love secrets more than i hate math.” Nora said, throwing the kind of logical reasoning that Connie had when she was her age. the only difference is that Nora’s a free-spirit kind of kid. “How about you read that tonight?”

“How bout i-” Connie stopped herself.

‘How have i not thought of this before.’ Connie thought to herself. ‘Most of my life had been like a mythical adventure story. She would love this!’

“How about what?” Nora asked, snapping Connie back to reality.

“How about i tell you a better story than what’s in here?” Connie asked Nora.

“Is it about how you and dad met?” Nora asked flatly.

“C’mon, kid. I’m trying my best at being a parent. give me a little slack.” Connie said in an almost equally flat tone.

“How about i give you a hug instead?” Nora asked kindly. She definitely had her dad’s heart. Connie nodded, and Nora wrapped her arms around her neck and hugged Connie.

“But this story has a bit of a twist. It might be about how we met. It might not be.” Connie said, walking into Nora’s room and gently placing her in her bed. “But i can definitely say that this may be a familiar story, but told in a different way.”

Nora’s eyes grew wide with excitement.

“Well, Once upon a time, on a far away planet, there was a young boy who was the son of a duchess who belonged to a very powerful family...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Young Steven, son of the duchess of Pink, lived a semi-sheltered life. all around him, mythical beasts would somehow attack parts of his kingdom. Most of the time, it was unintentional. Sadly, they were still a threat. And whenever they would pop up, his knights and guardians would be on call to take on the tasks of protecting the kingdom. Because of this, the young liege would be all alone. He never found a friend until one fateful day he noticed someone, sitting by the cliff near his castle. To the young liege, the person seemed familiar. He recognized who she was in an instant. It was a parade in the kingdom. As the young liege rode through the streets, he noticed the young girl, staring at the liege for a moment, and then walked away. as she did, the red flower bracelet she was wearing fell from her wrist and onto the ground. Fate seemed to have smiled on him when he returned to the spot to see that the bracelet was still there. He had it on him at all times, hoping one day he would see her again. Today was that day.

The young liege road on a large horse near the young girl.

“Wow. what a great day for a ride on a horse!” Steven exclaimed without trying to act like he was getting attention. “Yep, can go from here to Ocean City in less than an hour. can jump most hedges. large enough to carry another person. Ge it would be nice if i knew another person who would like to go on a ride with-.”

Steven’s luke warm peacocking was cut short when a slight humble in the earth hit. It wasn’t a large one, but it was enough to spook the horse, causing him to rise up on his hind legs and wail. Steven unceremoniously fell off as the horse trotted away. Steven laid there for a few seconds before turning to look a the girl, who merely peaked over her book for a second. And without hesitation, he did the only noble thing a liege like him could do: Run away, and flailing their arms about.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Wait. Dad had a horse?” Nora asked, interrupting the flow.

“Well... it was a bike. fantasy world, remember?” Connie replied. “Anyway...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The young liege ran back into the castle to try to collect his thoughts. and when he got up enough courage, he decided on doing a direct approach.

“Greetings, fair maiden. My name is Steven of Pink. Greetings, fair maiden. My name is Steven of Pink. Greetings, fair maiden. My name is Steven of Pink.” Steven said over and over again, practicing his lines. and yet again, an earthquake had shaken his focus. This time though, it was a large enough one to break off a boulder from the side of the cliff, with the young maiden sitting directly below. “GAH! Greetings, fair maiden. My name is Steeeeeeee!”

In an instant, Steven ran to the young maiden and attempted to push her out of the way, only to instead create a strange, spherical shield around him and the young maiden. A split second later, the boulder landed on the sphere, and broke apart in multiple pieces. After carefully looking around, he looked down to see the young maiden, looking back at Steven with a mild sense of shock, but mostly surprised.

“Greetings, fair maiden. My name is Steven of Pink.” Steven panted slightly.

“Lady Connie.” Connie said, looking into Steven’s eyes. “What... what is this?”

“Lady Connie... i don’t quite know for sure.” Steven replied, looking around at the bubble that has enveloped them.

“Actually... Connie would suffice.” Connie said, beginning to blush. “And... could you kindly get up off of me?”

Shocked that he didn't do it sooner, Steven jumped away, blushing profusely.

“Forgive me la- I mean, Connie.” Steven said, looking down at his feet.

“It’s okay.” Connie replied, inspecting the bubble, trying to figure out how it could be popped. “So... do you know how to make this thing go away?”

“Actually... I have never seen this before. And I’m not sure if this is of my own doing.” Steven said, looking around in confusion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before Connie could continue, she noticed that Nora was sound asleep. The story might have been too complex. It would have probably been better to just stick with the truth.

“She fell asleep on you as well?” Steven said, poking his head through the doorway.

“You tried to tell her how we met too?” Connie said, sounding surprised.

“Yeah, but with more of a sci-fi theme.“ Steven answered. “Didn’t get any farther than when we tried to have someone fire rockets at our force-field.”

“You told her it was a force-field? Yeah... my story telling isn’t as great as when i write it.” Connie said, tucking Nora in and walking towards Steven. “Maybe I’ll try finishing the story tomorrow.”

“That would be nice.” Steven said wrapping a arm around Connie’s waist. “Or maybe i could use a bed time story as well?”