prompt table { 2016 } 100 situations

[iluvroadrunner6]

Because I intend to finish this table one way or the other - please feel free to claim prompts from the list below. Anything with a link or a strikethrough is off limits, but otherwise, comment below and I will mark your prompts as claimed!

001.	Tired	002.	Back Alley	003.	Sunrise	004.	Late	005.	Son
006.	Hot	007.	Friend	008.	Floor	009.	Cheat	010.	Think
011.	Disgust	012.	Shelter	013.	Borrow	014.	Chair	015.	Alter
016.	Peace	017.	Beach	018.	True	019.	Crazy	020.	Love
021.	New	022.	Beggar	023.	False	024.	Happy	025.	Cancer
026.	Pickpocket	027.	Reverse	028.	Deliver	029.	Arrival	030.	Fall
031.	Knife	032.	Torn	033.	Danger	034.	Neutral	035.	Mate
036.	Fly	037.	Loud	038.	Touch	039.	Seek	040.	Argue
041.	Work	042.	Sink	043.	Nut	044.	Stuck	045.	Animal
046.	Pray	047.	Kill	048.	Light	049.	Cold	050.	Affair
051.	Restaurant	052.	Movie	053.	Wait	054.	Patient	055.	Crime
056.	Choke	057.	Fever	058.	Summer	059.	Eat	060.	Thirst
061.	Chance	062.	Appear	063.	Whisper	064.	Day	065.	Scream
066.	Fail	067.	Confused	068.	Smile	069.	Come	070.	Alone
071.	Fast	072.	Slow	073.	Return	074.	Fire	075.	Positive
076.	Baby	077.	Upset	078.	Kitchen	079.	Winter	080.	Ignorant
081.	Fool	082.	Afraid	083.	Prison	084.	Sex	085.	Hate
086.	Alarm	087.	Genius	088.	Negative	089.	Flood	090.	Bomb
091.	Hospital	092.	Trap	093.	Celebrate	094.	Old	095.	Disappear
096.	Writer‘s Choice.	097.	Writer‘s Choice.	098.	Writer‘s Choice.	099.	Writer‘s Choice.	100.	Writer‘s Choice.

Prompts Written: 100/100
Total Word Count: 124,261 words

Fill Plurk | Fill Plurk 2

Comments

and i still breathe you in my lungs ~ tvdverse ~ 2.891

[polydeukes]

Josie gets the idea when Hope takes her home to New Orleans the summer after the sand clock.

The idea doesn’t fully take root until after, much later, but the seeds of it are there. As Josie lets Freya walk her through living with dark magic, siphoning some of it, managing this power inside of her she doesn’t fully understand, she notes the way that she, Keelin, and Vincent balance their life and their family. It’s not an overt situation. If she wasn’t desperately looking for anything to distract herself from the mess she’s made of her life, she might not have noticed it at all.

It’s all small, little signals. Eventually, on their drive back to Mystic Falls for their next semester, she glances to Hope curiously.

“Maybe you, Raf, and Landon are going about it all wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean … your aunt seems to manage it okay,” she shifts and leans against the door more. “Loving two people at once.” Granted, Freya Mikaelson should very rarely be a role model for anything, but this at least she seems to be getting right.

Hope raises an eyebrow, briefly glancing at Josie before going back to the road. “Do you mean me, Raf and Landon, or you, me and Landon?”

Josie straightens in surprise. Honestly, she’s in no place to be wanting a relationship right now – her life is a disaster as it is. At the same time, she doesn’t think either scenario is wrong. “Or both.” She swallows, before turning her eyes back to the road again. “I mean, I am not relationship material at the moment, that much is for sure. But … Raf loves you both. Maybe it would be easier if it was an ‘and’ rather than an ‘or.’”

“Maybe.” Hope keeps her eyes on the road. “I’m not the one you’d have to convince. The boys are.”

Josie gives a half-laugh. “I’ve yet to see you fail to convince anyone of anything if it’s what you want.”

Hope grins. “Are you saying that I should turn my persuading powers on you too?” Josie turns back to her with a look, and Hope shakes her head. “I’m kidding. But … maybe you’re right. Maybe that’s the answer we’re looking for.”

It doesn’t take Hope long to convince the boys to fall in line. Landon is still her much more visible partner, but Josie notices that Raf isn’t keeping his distance as much. They seem happy, and Josie is happy for them. After all, she meant what she said – Josie’s not relationship material right now, and in true melodramatic teenage fashion, Josie’s not sure she ever will be again.

Hope’s promise to keep her powers of persuasion away from Josie last only long enough for her to notice that Josie’s eyes were starting to wander just before graduation. Hope corners Josie to kiss her while Lizzie is hauling one of her boxes back to the car to drive out. Josie kisses her back, if only because she’s always been curious, and when Josie pushes her back, Hope smirks, then shrugs.

“So, I wasn’t kidding.”

“What about –”

“She already talked to us about it.” Landon casually leans in the doorway, a dopey grin on his face, and if Josie didn’t know him better, she would assume that he was just another teenage boy, being gross about two girls making out. “We’re cool with it if you’re cool with it.”

Josie raises an eyebrow. “You sure that isn’t getting too complicated?”

Landon shrugs. “We’re already a tribrid, a witch, a werewolf, and a phoenix. I think complicated already comes with the territory.”

Josie tries to argue with him, but she has to admit, he has a point.

- - - - - -

Turns out, when your family has been gathering real estate since before America was a country, it makes it easy to find a three-bedroom place in a college town. All Hope had to do was call Aunt Rebekah, and two days later, Rebekah was sending her pictures of a charming little house walking distance from campus. Two reasonably large bedrooms with comfortable king-sized beds and a smaller single for Lizzie, who spends most of the moving-in period lamenting the fact that she’s the only person in the house not in a couple.

Hope is sure that Lizzie will find someone soon enough, and is mostly complaining to express her happiness that her sister seems to be moving on, but she also has a feeling that Lizzie knows more than that. Whether or not that will come back to bite them later remains to be seen, but for now, the beautiful thing about there being four of them is that they can pass for something relatively typical – two couples who happen to be living together – rather than something awkward and abnormal.

The genuinely nice thing, however, is that Hope never has to choose. It’s not about choosing. She’s unsure if this will work long term if there’s enough in this to make everyone happy, but for now, she’s willing to try. With all four of them together, they find ways to understand every part of each other, so as long as they stay happy, Hope is determined to make this last as long as possible.

Tonight, she and Raf are out in the woods behind the school, ready to wait out the impending full moon. Ever since Raf’s official induction into the Crescent pack, his transformations have been a lot easier, but they still go out every full moon, to keep things somewhat healthy. Sometimes Landon and Josie join them, but most of the time, it’s just Raf and Hope, relishing something only the two of them can understand.

At the end of this particular run, Raf shifts back as they return to the meadow, before flopping back into the grass with a happy sigh, basking in the moonlight. Hope shifts not long after him, a laugh on her lips as she does.

“You’re going to get in trouble if you keep lying there like that.”

He grins, and she can’t help the warmth that bubbles in her chest at the sight. Raf spent so long being torn in so many different directions that Hope worried he would never find the happiness she wanted for him. Seeing him be so openly effusive means the world to her – especially considering he trusts her enough to let her see it.

“No one’s coming. I think we're safe.”

She rolls her eyes, reaching for the wraparound dress she brought with her and sliding it around her shoulders. “You say that now, but will you still be saying that when you’re freaking out some innocent hikers going on a night hike to the lake?”

He laughs before yanking her down with him and positioning her at his side. “Relax and enjoy the stars for five minutes. World’s not going to end because we take a moment.”

She settles into place, tucked against his side and stares up at the bright moon above them, and exhales slowly. There’s a time where that wouldn’t be true, and she’s fairly certain there will be a time where it won’t be again, but for now, he’s right. The world won’t end if she takes a moment.

“You’re in a good mood.”

“Well, I may know something you don’t know.”

“Are you going to tell me?”

“Nope.”

“Then why bring it up?”

“I don’t know,” Raf shakes his head. “I’m a little moon drunk, I guess.”

She laughs, shaking her head as she turns to face him more. “Is it something I’m going to like?”

“I think so. It’s just not my thing to share.”

“Which means it’s Landon’s.”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” Hope still gives him a small look, but she shifts to stare up at the sky and take a deep breath. “Is it going to be good for all of us?”

“That’s T-B-D.” He sighs, before giving her a small squeeze. “But I don’t think it’s going to be bad.”

“Will I get to find out soon?”

“Probably.”

“Then, I can wait. I’ll be super impatient about it, but I can wait.”

He laughs, before shaking his head and rolling onto his stomach. “Good to know some things never change.”

Hope grins back at him in return, before glancing up at the moon. They still have some time before they’re expected again. “Race you to the creek and back?”

He glances back to her in return, and fur is already creeping along his spine as his eyes start to glow. “You’re on.”

- - - - - - -

“I’m thinking about proposing to Hope.”

The silence stretches out in front of them as Josie stares, brow furrowing in confusion. Landon swallows in return, before holding up a finger.

“That isn’t exactly how I wanted to say that.”

“Okay.” Josie places her physics textbook on the floor, before shifting on the couch and turning to face him more. He can tell from the look on her face that she’s weighing her options, trying to determine if what she’s thinking is an overreaction. “How did you mean to say that?”

“I … don’t know.” Landon closes his eyes. “I know it’s kind of against the rules.”

“It’s not against the rules.” Josie pauses. “But it’s also not not against the rules.”

“I’m just saying that as of right now, marrying three people isn’t exactly legal, and if we want to reap the benefits of things like joint taxes and shared health insurance or the ability to make medical decisions for each other, we probably should start legally pairing off.” He pauses again and opens his eyes to look over at Josie, pleading with her to understand. “And … Hope is Hope. I’m pretty sure I’ve been prepping for this question since the day I met her.”

Josie’s face falters, for a moment, because he manages to cut off her question of “Why Hope?” at the pass. “I’m not saying it doesn’t make sense.”

“So, what are you saying?”

“I’m saying that it kind of throws a wrench in the ‘everybody’s equal’ of it all.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. That’s why I’m asking you guys first before I do because … I don’t want you to think this is me picking Hope over both of you, because it’s not. It’s … ” It’s something he doesn’t know how to put into words. His hands flop to his sides again, and Josie shakes her head, before reaching over and taking his hand.

“No, I get it. I get it.” Josie smiles softly, then nods. “You should do it.”

“You mean it?” Landon stares her down as he tries to make sense of what she’s saying. “You’re not just saying this to make everyone happy like that time you made yourself sick on seaweed for our first date?”

She laughs, before shaking her head. “Is Raf okay with this?”

“Yeah, he is.”

“And you’re not like … proposing to her to break up with us?”

“Absolutely not.” Landon shrugs. “I feel like … we have all been through piles of crap. Maybe we should start forging new, happy moments that are ours. So let’s … have our weddings when we’re ready and talk about kids and plan these lives together.” He shrugs. “I’m proposing to Hope, but it’s not about Hope, not really. It’s about us.”

He watches the slow smile creep across her face before she laughs and shakes her head. “Okay, fine. Propose to Hope.” Even though she’d already given permission, this feels more like the response Landon was looking for – her being actually okay with things, not just stepping to the side to make everyone happy. “Be aware that you’re ruining our whole ‘never take the same date twice’ schtick.”

“I think we’ll survive.” He grins as he leans in to kiss her, pushing his textbooks off onto the floor. “Now, mind if I show you how much I don’t want to break up with you now?”

She grins. “I am certainly here to be persuaded.”

- - - - - -

“Did he do it yet?”

Raf glances over his shoulder from his place on the roof, seeing Josie climbing out the window to sit next to him. He presses his fingers to his lips in a shushing gesture. “No, and shhh – he doesn’t have superhearing, but he will hear us making fun of him if you’re loud enough.”

She rolls her eyes as she reaches forward to grab one of the beers in front of him, quietly popping the top as she looks down at the patio below. There, Landon is pacing back and forth in the soft glow of the tealights that he had set up to set the mood. Even if Raf didn’t have superhearing, he would be able to tell, just from knowing his best friend, that Landon’s rehearsing what he’s going to say and editing as he goes.

“How’s he doing?”

“I think this is the fifth version of the speech I’ve heard,” Raf smirks. “None of them have been great so far.”

“Like there’s any risk of her saying no,” Josie replies as she takes a pull from her beer. “I’m pretty sure this is all just a formality, and he could have just driven her to City Hall one day and the result would still have been the same.”

Raf raises an eyebrow. “You did give him your blessing, right? Because that was sounding a little bitter.”

“I’m not bitter.” Josie makes a face. “Okay, maybe I’m a little bitter. I just … I guess I figured this would be something we would all do together one day, rather than splitting it up.”

“And Landon’s jumping the gun on you?”

She shrugs. “I guess … I’ve never really felt like an accessory to their relationship, you know? What we’ve been doing, it works. I don’t want to upset the balance.”

“So why did you say yes?”

“Because our boyfriend is incredibly endearing and very persuasive.” She smirks. “And I know that we’ll catch up to them one day, even if it’s not right now.”

Raf nods with a small smile, before tucking an arm around her to pull her closer. Of all of them, he had been the most concerned about this working, worried about complications and jealousy. As a wolf, he’s got the strongest bonding instincts of all of them, and Raf wanted to keep all of them safe. But he learned, somewhere along the way, that wolves are meant to have a pack.

It doesn’t have to be a pack of wolves. Raf’s also reasonably sure that most packs aren’t as intimate as this one. These are his people. He’s not going to take the chance of losing any of them.

“We will,” he nods, pressing a kiss to the top of her forehead. “And even if they do break off and do their own thing somewhere along the way, we’ll still have each other. He turns to face her and flashes her a small smile. “No matter what, you’ll still have me.”

Josie smirks, before leaning in to kiss him, soft and slow. “Thank you. I needed to hear that.”

“Good.” He takes another sip of his beer before there’s the sound of tires on gravel and he glances back over his shoulder. “Hope’s home.”

“Oooh. Showtime.” Josie places a hand on Raf’s shoulder, gently siphoning off some magic and casting a sound magnification spell, so she can hear what he’s hearing. They both watch as Landon pulls Hope out into the patio and starts giving his long rambling speech, trying not to laugh too loudly.

Slowly, realization dawns over Hope’s face at what’s happening, followed by shock as Landon drops down to one knee, ring in hand. “But … what about—”

“They said it was okay.” Landon glances up to the roof above them, and Raf and Josie wave as Hope follows his eye-line. “They know that it’s not an end of this, it’s just … the start of something new. The next step, I guess. And they’re going to take it with us.”

Hope’s face is drawn back to Landon again, and he grins at her, before holding up the ring again.

“So, Hope Andrea Mikaelson – what do you say? Will you marry me?” He glances up at the roof again. “Will you marry us?”

Hope smiles, tears in her eyes, before nodding. “Yes.”

As the couple below celebrates their moment, the twosome on the roof watches on happily, before Raf takes Josie’s hand and gives it a small squeeze. “C’mon. We should probably get back inside before Landon tries to fly them up here to join us and burns the whole house down.”

Landon breaks the kiss below them and holds up a finger. “That only almost happened one time.”

Josie laughs, before shaking her head. “He’s right. We’ll meet you inside.” She pushes up into a standing position and stretches upwards, before flashing them both a grin. “Plus, I picked up champagne on the way home. If we’re going to celebrate, we’re doing this in style.”

Landon points to Josie with a grin. “I like where your head’s at.”

“You and me both,” Hope grins, before taking his hand and tugging him inside. “Let’s do this.”