Prompt Five - Tell Me a Secret. [CLOSED]

[CSMintCat]

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

As you approach to the caravan, you can see that, like your surroundings, it's dark inside. For a moment you falter, second-guessing yourself as you wonder if it's even worth taking a look at; for all you knew, the owner of the caravan could be sleeping, or off doing something else. However, as you continue along to your destination, you can tell that the golden glow you saw earlier was indeed coming from there and, your curiosity renewed, you carry on.

As you get closer, you're able to make out the shape of a figure in the darkness, outlined by whatever source of light that had attracted your attention in the first place. They seem to be focused intently fiddling with something in front of them, their back facing towards you. You're so distracted by whatever the stranger seems to be doing that you don't see the stray stone on the path in front of you, and you trip over it in the half-darkness.

Alerted by the sounds of your arrival, the figure quickly swivels around to face you. Righting yourself from your little mishap, you gasp as you realize the source of the light was, in fact, their eyes, glowing in the gloom of their home. You freeze, torn between calling out a greeting and making a quick escape.

Before you can decide (and you honestly were leaning towards the latter), the stranger makes the choice for you, calling out.

"Hey there kiddo! You doin' okay over there?"

He does something that causes the lanterns hung up around his caravan to light up and, in doing so, you manage to get a better look at his face.

He seems familiar, somehow.

You assure him that you're doing just fine, just a little shaken, and he grins, beckoning you closer. You oblige, suddenly feeling a sense of unease creeping down your back. You shake it off, chalking it up to having a long day. Before you get a chance to speak, intending to ask about what he was doing, the stranger cuts you off.

"I see you've been sniffin' around, talkin' to the others.
What, they've been offerin' you rewards in exchange for answerin' their little questions?
Thas' cute."

You nod hesitantly, unsure as to where he was going with this.
He scoffs, shaking his head.

"I take it you're expectin' me to do the same.
Ask you a silly question about your hope or your dreams or somethin' like that.
Me? I don't care about any 'o that stuff.
If you want somethin' from me, yer gonna hafta gimme somethin' good."

He suddenly leans towards you, and you're struck with the urge to run. You just barely manage to hold your ground, staring back at him as calmly as you're able as he continues. He grins at you conspiratorially before speaking, bared teeth catching in the light of his caravan.
(You shudder.)

"Tell me, kid... Ya got any secrets? Anythin' you're hidin' an' wanna get off yer chest?
Any skeletons hidin' in th' closet?"

He leans even closer (you briefly wonder how he hasn't fallen out of the caravan yet) and his grin widens.

"Don't worry, you can trust me.
I won' tell anyone else.
It'll just be our little secret, eh?"

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Looks like the stranger wants you to tell him a secret!
Preferably one that you really want to get off your chest, it seems like.
Whether it be something good or bad (though you feel like the stranger would really prefer the latter),
don't worry about him spilling the beans; he gave you his word, didn't he?




[Head back to the caravans?]

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

[Thani]

She has a drawer full of stolen Cup coasters

[chanhee.]

Frog shrugs at the man's prompt. He'd been bored and refused to talk to the others asking him questions, but something about secrets piqued his interest.

"I'm not human. I've snapped before. I'm a wanted man. Anything else?" Frog lists off a couple of things he normally kept close to himself, lifting a hand to pick at the slightly fraying skin on his lip. If you look hard enough, you'll notice a blue scar that seems eerily almost-human.

Without the stranger asking more, Frog continues. "I'm an android. Specifically, I was made to protect important people. I failed once my coding bugged, and since then I've been someone I wasn't made to be. I'm a criminal. If you can think of a crime, I've probably committed it in an attempt to keep my partner and I safe from people who want us dead."

"I don't think I started off doing anything wrong- my coding caused me to seize during a fight and the person I was keeping at bay got loose and took my ward with them, which wasn't my fault. They took me in for questioning, though, and when I talked with Lysander, I think I made him feel something for the first time because he came in wanting me to rot and left the questioning room with plans to help me escape. That's when I started to break actual laws. We fought our way out of there tooth and nail, nearly dying several times, but by the time we were out, there were no more to come to try to stop us. We haven't stopped moving since then, and I don't think we ever will."

Frog shrugs at the emotions he got off his chest, shaking his head a bit and smiling, slight fangs showing. "Anyway, thanks for listening. I hope I never see you around again," He gives a small salute and heads off, shoulders back and head high.

[325]

[SilhouetteStation]

Medeia gave him a charming smile. His toothy grin and glowing gaze didn't do much to unnerve her; that much was shown through the neutral expression on her face. The truth, or a mask; who knew? But this man - this cocky stranger - wasn't about to rattle her. She'd spent years building up this calm persona.

"A secret, hmm?" she said. "Well aren't you a bold one, asking me such a heavy question. Will everyone who wanders your way get this treatment? You're sure to have a lot to think of while you're drifting off to sleep tonight."

In the light of his eyes, she glanced around at the interior of his caravan, her keen eyes wandering over any stray items that might be easy pickings. Always on the lookout for something interesting; always on the lookout for something small to slip into her pocket. The satchel at her side was empty apart from a few sticks of incense, and the warm, curled up body of a dozing weasel. Both were viable options, both worked well together; but she wasn't in the mood for trying something tonight. She was smart enough to value logic over greed, and knew that a travelling stranger wasn't the wisest target. Rich people were much easier.

"I wonder what would happen if I asked you the same question?" she mused. "You don't seem like the type of man to spill your guts so easily. Perhaps we have that in common. Perhaps we both know just how much to give away, and how much is best kept to ourselves."

She leant forward slightly, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Would you like to hear something fun? A little snippet of a secret?" She let out a soft, almost purring giggle. "Darling, if I lit the incense I had right now and had you breath it in, you wouldn't even know you'd been robbed until tomorrow morning." As she spoke, the lid of her satchel lifted, and a small brown head popped out. The dark, inquisitive eyes stared at the man, and his nose twitched. Medeia gave him a small stroke on the head, and he slid back down into the bag. "He'd be rewarded well for all his efforts. Weasels are very smart, you know. Very good at squeezing into small spaces, and staying out of sight. Very loyal, too, when you trust each other."

Another charming smile was thrown the man's way. "Lovely talking to you, darling. Hope you enjoy that information. Must be quite interesting, coming from the local meditation teacher, hmm?" With that she turned and walked away, faint laughter drifting over her shoulder as she disappeared into the night.

(446w)

[elliott.]

cyrus scoffed. what did mr. sketchy guy think
this was, a challenge? he loved telling his secret; especially
because he had been told not to. his eyes rolled dramatically,
before he leaned in, a smirk pulling at his lips to fix the mood.
“i’ve died before,” was his opening statement, his eyes
glinting mischeviously, although no signs of lie were detected.

“a stupid way,“ he grumbled, “but i still did. that car should’ve
seen me. it’s not like i’m not brightly colored!” the mainly pink
and white kalon leaned against the darker kal’s caravan, almost as
if the story of being hit by a car was physically exhausting to him.
he shook his head, a single ear flicking. “yeah, it was a pretty
cool thing, dying. everybody usually ponders if dying is scary or
painful, and the truth is, it’s neither. it’s boring.”

the way cyrus was talking was as if him dying wasn’t that big of
a deal, his face almost bored. he shrugged, licking his lips before
he spoke again. “my dad, who’s kinda king of dead people, told me
not to tell anyone, but what’s he gonna do, kill me?”” cyrus’ eyebrow
raised almost smugly, a dry laugh leaving his lips.

[ 204 words. ]

[-pidge]

Juniper was a tad startled by the harshness of the familiar face. She knew him somehow, but that was the last thing on her mind. She glares blankly at him, lost for words. "Go on." His voice is blunt, and his interest begins to drain. "I like your... earrings." She sputters. The kalon seems unimpressed. "What are you trying to hide?" He could sense the insecurity and fear in her voice. "N-nothing..." She twines her paws through her hair. "You know I'm not convinced on that." He smirks. "Ok, ok." She gives in. "You really want to know?" She takes his silence as a yes. Glancing around, she checks that no one is in ears reach. "I'm a witch."

The kalon quickly covers up the flash of shock that overcame him, attempting to remain uninterested. "Oh really? Gonna be honest, wasn't expecting something like that from a fragile thing like you." He teases. Juniper grew offended of his words. "If I'm so fragile, how come I've broken the law!" She blurts out, instantly regretting what she just said. The kalons ears' prick up. "All right sweet-heart, what law did you break exactly." It seemed now she had his interest.

"Nothing, I didn't mean to say that." She crosses her arms defensively. "But you did." He grinned. This kalon was nothing but trouble to her. "Oh alright." She huffed. "I jump through realms. "Kingdom au's, modern au's, au's beyond this universe, I know things, things you wouldn't dare to scarcely imagine. "Hows that illegal? I didn't even know that was possible..." He no longer cares to hide his curiosity.
"I come from the realm of Wizardly and Witchcraft. I've been using spells from there that are forbidden, it dark magic, extremely dark, in the wrong hands, it could change the fate of all the words."

"You can't tell a soul!" She demands. "You have my word, as promised." The kalon confirms. Juniper didn't know what he was expecting from his question, but she was sure this was not what he had in mind.

[**Snowwhisper**]

─────────────────────

Mira stared for a moment, before scoffing. "You're not the only one who can make people nervous around here. " Glancing around the stranger, Mira continued, "Though I'm sure you know that already. I wonder how many times you've used that line 'You can trust me'? I can expect too many, though that probably means nothing to you and you'll continue to use it as you see fit, won't you?"

Bringing her gaze back to the stranger, Mira peered at him for a moment, taking in his appearance. As before, he's familiar but nothing comes to mind, not that it bothers Mira too much. She doesn't bother with faces and names anymore. And this strangers no different from any other she's encountered. Though she will admit, grudgingly, this one might be smarter than most she's met. Now it comes down as to whether or not she wants to answer. "Unspoken secrets are secrets kept." She muttered to herself before raising her voice, smirking a little, "A secret's worth depends on the people from whom it must be kept, or so I've heard. Though I suppose sometimes the biggest secrets are ones you can only tell a stranger. And you and I are both strangers, aren't we? I suppose that means I have to tell you don't I? "

She just for a moment before leaning in and whispering, "I can't actually read." Silence. "Not what you were expecting, was it? I'm sure you were looking for something a bit more twisted, weren't you? Well I'll be keeping those to myself, thank you very much. But if you'd like, I can expand on that for you. And even if you don't, I'm gonna tell you. While I can't read, I can recognize words and symbols for what they mean. Just think of like reading a picture book." Blinking, Mira continued, "Not entirely sure why I haven't learned but I've gotten this far I suppose. Haven't die yet, and don't exactly plan to anytime in the future, especially since now I've got an apprentice who can read. So I've decided it's a problem for the future."

Mira chuckled, "It could be worse. So on that note, I think we're done here. As fun as this has been, I doubt we'll be seeing each other in the future, so have fun knowing that useless secret and I'll be on my way."
[396]

─────────────────────

[kolyakun]

Mephistopheles | This mouth has devoured many souls

[PleaserOfCrowds]

“A secret? Pft, old Lucky’s got quite a lot of them, might as well tell some of them since my friends seem to keep spilling ‘em to me. But, that’s pretty mean even for me, and that’s not we’re here for.”

Luxury practically snickered to himself, thinking of the many he could tell. As a conman, Luxury knew his way around lies and secrets, which wasn’t particularly new to him.

“I like your question, so I’ll tell it to you. The other day, I broke into someone’s else’s house.

Now for context, I got tired of watching my friends chasing some cryptid in the woods, dunno what they were trying to accomplish by being in the woods at some random time at night. So I snuck off, no big deal?

However, I just happened to find a house nearby that belonged to a strange man that I know as Locke. I’d previously seen him multiple times, but there was something off about him? Either way, I’d figured I could get a quick buck taking whatever he didn’t need as well as find some dirt about him. Because, someone as boring as him has to have something hidden somewhere?

Breaking in was surprisingly easy, it was navigating that was the hard part. The house was pretty nice; if not for the fact that there was literally junk strewn all over the house. Like, I don’t always have the chance to be neat and such, but this was a whole new level. Either way, I had to clean a strangers house just to get to what I wanted. It was easy to find what I needed without alerting him since he was completely knocked out when I was there. Messiness aside, it was a treasure trove. Eventually, his small robot contraption did end up noticing at one point which it then started loudly beeping at me. I ran before it could wake up Locke.

Well the secret is, I’ve still been breaking into his place every week, ever since that one incident. I found myself more or less curious about his life, since I wasn’t able to find anything that I could use as information for my clients. But what I do know is that he sleeps like a rock, since once I found his robot trying to drag him upstairs to his room, which I found pathetic so I helped it out just so it wouldn’t annoy me with its beeping.”

Luxury crossed his arms, leaning back onto the caravan as his usual smirk turned into a disgruntled frown. “The only things I found were blueprints and messy notes about his robot “friend”, the one that keeps beeping whenever it sees me, and I’m pretty sure that’s not important for what I need to do. Usually, I’m able to figure out someone’s job, personally, practically everything about them in a short while, but I’ve been having no luck aside from the robot and his perpetually messy house. It’s frustrating, but I’ll eventually find who he truly is.

Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m there to grab any information in case a future client needs it, and to make a quick buck. I’ve haven’t told anyone about it, because Felipe would chastise me about it, Bethany would go over and wreck the place, and Vega... I don’t even know, but considering what they’ve been doing I wouldn’t want to find out.”

Luxury thought to himself as he realized that this secret was probably pretty embarrassing in hindsight, but there was no going back now. Still, it was probably best to leave before he could explain it further and cause himself more trouble.

“Well, well, it was nice talking about my own secrets, perhaps would you look at the time? Well, Lucky’s gotta go, since I’ve got... important clients to meet up with.”

And with that, Luxury manages to trip out of the caravan as he walks out awkwardly. Good going, he thought to himself...


(662 words)

[Nex]

Paxton didn’t enjoy how close this stranger was. Pax needs his personal space, ya know? Not to mention the question was quite invasive. Pax already didn’t like the energy radiating off of this guy.
Suddenly, Pax had a change of heart. Now that he had time to think about it, this guy was super cool! With his piercings and glowing eyes, this guy probably had a load of super rad secrets to go along with his persona.
Pax shifted uncomfortably. He searched his brain for anything that could be at least mildly interesting. He found nothing except that one time when he was super young he ate a worm thinking it was a gummy worm.
So Pax had to travel to his next option, come up with his own secret.
“I’m gonna set the scene for you. It is Christmas Eve and everyone is settling down anxiously awaiting the next morning. Suddenly, the air inside of the house is thick with smoke. Everyone rushes outside but then someone screams-“
Paxton paused to think.
“Then someone, someone had forgotten their baby inside. So, I dash back inside and find the baby surrounded by flames. I jump up, bounce against the wall, doing a triple back flip and land safely on the ground where the baby is lying.”
Paxton crossed his arms and eyes the stranger.
“Guess what? Because of me Thanksgiving was saved and not a single soul knew who had rescued the baby.”
Pax leaned closer to the stranger.
“So? What kind of secret do you have?”
Paxton clicked his tougue before lending back against the cart.
“Sorry, I just have back issues- yeah my back was getting sore.”