a wolf's blood ♛ ( challenges )

[Pyjaks]

Hey, my name is Py and this is my challenge thread.
Feel free to post but please disable your signature, thanks :)

floki's challenge

[Pyjaks]

1.// "Did you steal my Poptart?"
2.// "We could be hero's!"
3.// "We should be lovers..."
4.// "SNAAAAAAAAAAKE!"
5.// "What do you mean, NO?!"
6.// "THIS IS JUST BUSINESS!"
7.// "Maybe, just one more slice."
8.// "You can't leave! You'll die..."
9.// "I was a fool to believe..."
10.// "It all ends, today."
11.// "You must..."
12.// "You're just a silly girl!"
13.// "The show must go on..."
14.// "Just one more day, please..."
15.// "You can't just kill people!"
16.// "Seriously, who ate my Poptart?!"
17.// "I only speak the truth."
18.// "Don't let go Jack! Wait... you already did... rats."
19.// "I did not want this!"
20.// "What do you mean he's dead?!"
21.// "I haven't eaten in three days!"
22.// "Who am I? Not Jean Valjean..."
23.// "Did you just..."
24.// "Do. Not. Touch. That."
25.// "YOU JUST TOUCHED IT!"
26.// "I would never say that to you."
27.// "My receding hair line has been kissed..."
28.// "You have Elvis Presley eyes... I would know."
29.// "Dude, chocolates are bomb."
30.// "Could you... stay with me tonight?"
31.// "I can't loose you!"
32.// "Please... marry me."
33.// "I can't hug you..."
34.// "You call that a kiss?"
35.// "Since when did I ask for it to snow?"
36.// "I'M BATMAN" "No... no you are not."
37.// "NEVER SAY THAT WORD!"
38.// "I HAVE TB!" "No you have a cold!"
39.// "Can you not?!"
40.// "Tis only a flesh wound!"
41.// "Could you stop jumping for one minute?!'
42.// "Please repeat that, I wasn't listening."
43.// "You love me?"
44.// "Never do that again."
45.// "I dare you to lick that..."
46.// "What do you think of children?"
47.// "I like, like you."
48.// "BY GODS..."
49.// "I just wanted you..."
50.// "Damn it! I died again!"

51.// "I'm a mess."
52.// "Hey! Little ears are around!"
53.// "Please, don't cry..."
54.// "YOU PLAGIARIZING PIG!"
55.// "Since when did Disney add this?!
56.// "It only get's worse"
57.// "Oh crap..."
58.// "Please tell me that is not what I think it is."
59.// "What did you think I was doing?"
60.// "ALL HAIL ...!"
61.// "Now why did you do that?"
62.// "You have beautiful eyes."
63.// "Let's travel the world!"
64.// "I DON'T SPEAK FRENCH!"
65.// "Whatever happened to Joel?"
66.// "No way in, no way out."
67.// ""I will have my vengeance."
68.// "Grow up!"
69.// "I found the ring!"
70.// "We should run... like now!"
71.// "Can you please shut up?" "No."
72.// "I found that cliff..."
73.// "Are you sure that is safe to eat?"
74.// "I TOLD YOU TO GOOGLE MAP IT!"
75.// "Who died and made you queen?!"
76.// "Ich Sprechen Deustch"
77.// "Now wait a second, buster."
78.// "I would kill for you."
79.// "The greatest thing, is you."
80.// "I am a literary vampire."
81.// "A stake through the heart would kill anybody..."
82.// "Bon Jovi is my jam!"
83.// "Kiss me.. now."
84.// "I seem to have lost my contact."
85.// "TURN THE LIGHTS BACK ON!"
86.// "DON'T SHOOT!"
87.// "Oh no... he has a sword too."
88.// "Are you sure it's dead?"
89.// "Ummmmm..."
90.// "I can't write anything good."
91.// "We aren't in Hogwarts!"
92.// "Please, stay with me."
93.// "He's not breathing!"
94.// "I...love...yo-"
95.// "She's gone."
96.// "Sir, where are your pants?"
97.// "I can't even."
98.// "I believe in you."
99.// "What can I say... you're welcome."
100.// "The sea... it calls me."

[Pyjaks]

ＹＯＵ ＣＡＬＬ ＴＨＡＴ Ａ ＫＩＳＳ？
( wc: 1,064 ) ( notes: idk where this came from but it was fun! )

"You call that a kiss?"

Carlo spluttered with indignation, his face reddening. Beside him, Friday was staring out over the water, but Carlo could see the tiny smirk that quipped at his lips. Friday enjoyed taunting him- he always had.

Still, that didn't lessen his embarrassment.

"What would you know about kissing?" Carlo said heatedly. Friday just spared him a half long glance and rolled his eyes.

"More than you, idiot. I told you about Jenny last summer, remember? And Amanda on New Years?"

Carlo said nothing, just gave a disgruntled mutter. It was true. Friday had more experience with girls than Carlo did. Sometimes, it seemed Friday had more experience with everything. He was fourteen, the same age as Carlo...but he was also different. Wise beyond his years. Not that that made him any less insufferable.

The pair of teenage boys were sitting on the dingy old pier, their bare toes skimming the water beneath their feet. It was early Spring, still too cold to go swimming, but this had been their favorite spot since they were young.

Carlo's thoughts drifted back to a few hours before. He'd met Elissa at the old ice cream shop in the middle of town. They'd spent a few awkward hours together, walking through little craft shops and department stores. When Elissa's parents had called and told her to come home, Carlo had spent a panicked moment wondering what to do, then leaned forward and pressed his lips to Elissa's. She'd seemed happy about it, and headed home with a skip in her step.

But Carlo...Carlo didn't know if he was happy about it. The kiss had been warm and soft...but weren't kisses supposed to make you feel something?

When he'd found Friday at the pier, their regular meeting spot, he'd told his friend about it instantly. Friday had just snorted and made that scathing remark. You call that a kiss?

Carlo supposed he'd expected nothing more...but a part of him had wanted Friday to be happy for him. He'd had his first kiss. He'd reached some big, glorious milestone.

Except now that he'd reached it, it didn't seem glorious at all.

"What's a kiss supposed to be like, then?" Carlo asked. Friday turned his head at that, his brow furrowing as he stared at his friend. A strand of his golden, curly hair had fallen in front of his eyes. The sunlight glistened off of it, turning it into molten fire.

"It's supposed to be...electric," He said finally. "Y'know, fireworks and all that."

"You don't seem very convinced."

Friday hesitated.

"No. I guess I'm not."

Carlo blinked. His best friend had just been bragging about all his conquests- and now he was unsure?

"You've kissed loads of girls, Fri. How can you not know what it feels like?"

Friday didn't respond immediately. He stared back out over the water, watching tiny little ripples emanate over the surface. It was almost sunset- rays of gold and orange and red were bleeding out onto the water.

"Those girls...they were just girls. Just people. I've never kissed anyone I like."

Carlo blinked again. Was that it, then? Was Elissa just a girl? She was pretty and kind and made Carlo laugh...but he didn't get butterflies when he saw her. He didn't feel drawn to her in a crowd, he didn't go to sleep thinking about her. Hell, he'd only asked her on a date because it felt like he should, what with everyone else his age doing it.

It made sense. But Friday, not being interested in anyone? That was the doozy.

"What, you're telling me you didn't like Jenny, after all that time you spent chasing her?"

Again, Friday rolled his eyes.

"I thought she was hot, Car, there's a difference."

"Fine. Amanda?"

"She threw herself at me. I wasn't gonna say no."

They both laughed at that, a short laugh that echoed off of the water and then faded into silence.

"You...uh, you aren't actually interested in Elissa, then, are you?"

There was something in Friday's voice that Carlo had only ever heard a few times over the years of their friendship- nervousness. A vulnerability that was the stark opposite of Fri's usual sarcasm and arrogance. Carlo didn't know what to make of that.

"I guess not," He said slowly, still unsure. "I have a nice time with her, though. Shouldn't that count for something?"

"Don't you have a nice time with anyone else?"

"Sure- you."

They both tensed at that. A palpable tension spread between them. Carlo hadn't meant anything by it. At least, he didn't think he did.

Did he?

"I -ah, its almost dark. Ma's gonna be pissed if I come home late again."

"Fri-"

"I'll see you tomorrow."

Friday rose to his feet, dusted himself off and vanished into the treeline surrounding the pond. Carlo stared after him but didn't follow. His mind was a whirlwind, still struggling to process what exactly had just happened.

He could have taken it back, could have laughed it off and told Fri he was just joking. But unbidden, an image surfaced in his mind- and in that image Carlo's lips weren't pressed to Elissa's, but to Friday's. A warmth spread through him that he hadn't felt with Elissa, a tingling that rose the hairs on his arms.

When he realized what he was thinking about, Carlo felt a wave of disgust and shame rise in him like bile.

Fri was his friend, his best friend. They'd been together since childhood. To even think about him in that way...it was wrong. It wasn't fair to either of them. And judging by his quick departure, it was clear that Friday didn't think very highly of the idea either.

But now that he'd thought about it, Carlo couldn't get Friday out of his mind. It was the minute details that lingered; the curve of his best friends shoulders, the golden of his hair, the way his eyes glittered when he laughed.

Carlo groaned and pressed his palms to his eyes. This wasn't how his day was supposed to end. He wasn't supposed to be so confused. He'd been friends with Friday for most of his life. Why now?

Long after the sun dropped beneath the horizon, Carlo lingered on the pier, staring over the water and thinking, thinking, thinking about these things he'd never had to think about before.

[lucas.]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa pyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
you're so good ohmygosh yes it's been confirmed
i can't wait for more c:

[Pyjaks]

ＤＯＮ＇Ｔ ＳＨＯＯＴ！
( wc: 1,563 ) ( notes: tysm lucas <333 )

The ragtag group of survivors were spread out in loose formation throughout the subway tunnel. Beams of their flashlights cut through the darkness, sweeping every nook, corner and cranny. The more fortunate souls had pistols at their hips or rifles slung across their backs; the rest were left with more crude, makeshift weapons- baseball bats, kitchen knives, long lengths of broken pipe.

Annie was lingering behind everyone else, her fingers wrapped around the hilt of an old hunting knife. She'd scavenged it from a corpse a few weeks back. It wasn't much compared to a gun- but, well, against the monsters, anything would do.

Monsters. The thought sent a ripple of cold down her spine. It had been almost two years now, two years since the old world ended and the new one took over, but Annie still didn't like to think about them for too long. Their grey, rotting skin, and dead, reaching hands...it was enough to give anyone the spooks.

Instead, the young woman forced herself to focus on moving forward. They'd been scouting the subway tunnel for hours now. Her legs throbbed, her feet ached, but if the group could find a safe place to bunker down for the night, it would be worth it.

"Hey, Marc!"

Annie looked up as Im broke rank and strode to the point of their formation to confer with Marcus. Marc was the group leader- a massive hulk of a man, cold, calculating, unfriendly. He kept the group together, but he was ruthless in his ways. Unyielding. Annie had never met anyone as savage and brutal as Marc could be.

Predictably, the leader didn't look pleased at Im's interruption.

"What now?"

"There's another tunnel branching off to the right. Some of us should go check it out. Could be supplies down there- food, water."

Marcus stared for a moment, his face twisted into its customary frown, then gave a jerk of his head.

"Alright. Take Annie and Jaq and go check it out."

Annie blinked in surprise but didn't protest. She wasn't exactly volunteering to go poking around in even more tunnels, but she wasn't going to defy orders. Not from Marcus. Besides, the promise of extra food sounded pretty good. Shooting a cursory glance at Im and Jaq, Annie broke off from the main group and stepped into the depths of the side tunnel.

It was tighter than the one they'd been travelling in- and, somehow, even darker. Annie lifted her flashlight to eye level and cast it in a wide arc. Behind her, Im and Jaq did the same. She hated looking straight into the darkness, not knowing what could be lurking out of sight. One of them could be waiting in the shadows and she'd never know until its teeth were in her neck.

You can't think like that, Annie. Not anymore.

The trio continued down the tunnel, their books clanking against the ground. Trash and debris crunched beneath their feet. A dank, clammy cold permeated the cement walls. Their flashlights continued to move in wide arcs, sweeping this way and that, this way and that.

"There!" Jaq said suddenly, pointing ahead of them. There was a large, reinforced door set into the wall. It must have been some kind of maintenance room before. The three of them scrambled towards it, but when Annie tried the handle, it was firmly locked.

"Here," Im said, "Get out of the way."

Annie watched as he slung the rifle off of his shoulder and smashed the butt of it against the door handle. It took a while, but eventually the handle sprang free and the door clicked as the lock was dislodged. Tightening her fingers around her knife, Annie braced herself and stepped into the doorway of the old maintenance room. Jaq and Im raised their guns and did the same.

"DON'T SHOOT!"

There was a woman- scraggly, frail, clothes dirty and bones protruding through her threadbare clothes. She was curled atop a filthy bedroll. She had a knife in one hand, but didn't look like she could even stand, much less fight. Annie gaped. She hadn't seen an unfamiliar face in weeks.

"P-please, don't shoot. I didn't know there was anyone else down here. I wont bother you. I won't get in your way."

Her words were so quick, so panicked, that Annie could barely make out what the woman was saying. She looked like a starving, primal animal, cowering and bracing itself for a blow. Why was she down here? Why had she locked herself into a tiny maintenance room in a subway tunnel? The woman's eyes flickered back and forth between the three of them, her chest rising and falling rapidly, her entire body shaking in fear. Of all the things she'd seen since the monsters took over, Annie wondered if this sight was the most pitiful.

Jaq and Im were also looking bewildered. Neither of them had lowered their guns.

"Uh..." Jaq faltered, looking at Im and Annie for guidance. Annie had none to give. There wasn't exactly protocol when it came to matters like this. The woman looked harmless, but what if she wasn't? What if they left her behind and she followed them back to the group? Worse, what if she somehow drew the attention of anything else lurking in the tunnels?

"Hey," Im spoke up suddenly. His eyes were fixed on a point behind the cowering woman. "Look at that!"

Annie looked up- and her breath hitched in her throat. There were shelves on the walls, shelves upon shelves of canned food and water bottles. Her companions hurried forward, the woman all but forgotten, and began rifling through the goods.

"There's everything we need here," Jaq quipped in excitement. "Food, water, even a med kit."

"Blankets, ammo, matches...lady, where the hell'd you get all this?"

The woman whimpered at that, her eyes now flickering between the supplies and the two men poking through them.

"Please, those are mine, you can't take them!"

Im laughed- a short, cruel, humorless bark.

"Of course we can. Needs of the many and all that."

Annie bit down hard on her lip, staring at the pathetic woman. She didn't care about her. There wasn't enough empathy left in the world for Annie to waste time caring about some filthy scrap of a person she'd just met. But to come into someone's abode and steal all of their things? It was a special kind of cruel.

Realizing that Annie was the only one not picking through her possessions, the woman turned and stared at her pleadingly. Annie couldn't hold her gaze- she looked away, back at her companions.

"Maybe we shouldn't," Annie said gruffly. "All these supplies'll just weigh us down."

Im turned and stared incredulously at her. He'd already started stuffing cans into his backpack.

"Are you insane? After all the nights we've gone hungry, after all the people we've lost because we don't have any medicine, you want to just leave this stuff here? For what, some old bat who'll be dead in a few weeks anyways?"

He was right. Annie knew he was right. And yet a part of her still ached for the filthy, hopeless woman lying at her feet.

"She'll die because of us."

"We all die, Annie."

"I won't have any part of it. Her blood can be on your hands."

Silence fell between them. A sudden tension crackled through the small room. The woman let out a tiny whimper and Jaq, sensing the hostility, turned to stare. A hardness had fallen over Im's face that made Annie's heartbeat quicken.

"Alright," Im said, his voice now a cold, deadly purr. "Have it your way. We'll see how Marc feels when I tell him you were more interested in helping an old nutter than your own group."

An icy cold spread through her body, freezing the blood in her veins. Annie could picture it; Marc's snarl of anger, his massive hands curling into fists, those fists raining blows down over her body until she was beaten and bruised and bloody.

No. She didn't want that.

Annie cast one last look down at the woman, who was still shivering, still staring, still pleading. She cast one last look, then braced herself and faced her companions.

Then, she strode over to the shelves and started stuffing her pack with as many supplies as she could fit.

"Wha-what? No, please! I'll die without them! I'll die!"

Annie was no hero. You couldn't be, not anymore. More than she could live with a broken, beaten body, she could live with the realization that she was a coward who valued self preservation over her sense of humanity.

"Please, please, PLEASE!"

When the trio finished stuffing their bags and stepped back out of the maintenance room, Annie let herself feel it for a split second- the self-hatred, the shame, the loathing for the people she ran with and the world they lived in. And then she locked it all back up into somewhere deep, deep inside where she wouldn't feel it until she let herself feel it again.

But as they walked back through the subway tunnels, the woman's desperate screams echoing behind them, Annie had to wonder if the monsters really were the worst thing in the new world, or if humans were an entirely different level of evil.

[Ranger of the North]

Oh my gosh
Py, that was heart-breaking *sniffs and blows-nose on your shoulder*

[Pyjaks]

Awhhh thank you Ranger :D I'm glad it made you feel something!!
I've noticed tons of people are going the sad route on these challenges, lol. We are all miserable people

[Ranger of the North]

Yeah, you guys are depressing XD

also you forgot to disable your signature mwahaha
sorry, I'm such a pain c':

[lucas.]

high-five for miserable people!!

anyway, gosh. you can't just do that to me py. i really didn't expect that but the outcome was still fantastic nonetheless. but poor girl!! i feel so bad for her oh my goodness

[Pyjaks]

OMG NOOOO I was hoping no one would notice before I disabled it XD I'm the worst thread owner

AWHHH thank you again Lucas <3 I don't usually write things from a colder/more clinical perspective so it was pretty fun