Welcome to the eighteenth #SatSunTails microfiction competition.
Be warned – the prompts aren’t easy, but that’s so you can write to the best of your ability.
If you haven’t had a go before at this writing challenge, then please don’t hesitate to try this weekend.
Rules!
- Post stories in the comments
- Stories must be 150 words (margin of 5 words either side) AND based on the picture and written prompts.
- If you title your entry this is not counted in your word count.
- Only one entry allowed (so make it count)
- End each entry with word count and name/twitter handle (if you forget these REPLY TO YOUR OWN COMMENT with them before judging closes)
- Monday 11am GMT is the expected closing time for entries BUT the competition will be open until I put a ‘competition closed’ comment so you may be able to slip something in (because I’m extra kind like that). Got that?
If you do not comply with these rules your story will be disqualified from judging. Good spelling and grammar will also help to make a better impression on judges – the odd typo, however, will be overlooked so please don’t worry about that.
For tips, read through the critiques from last week’s entries.
Winners!
There will be ONE OVERALL WINNER and THREE RUNNERS UP. After that there will be THREE CRITIQUES of three stories that didn’t make it.
It would also be nice to those participating if you could promote your fellow competitors and those who win.
Today’s Prompt!
The following may be used as a sentence in your story OR provide a basis for it:-
“incarcerated risks”
And here is your picture prompt:
& good luck!
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Should I have run? You tell me….
She came down one seductive step at a time, long legs supporting that voluptuous body and adorable face. I wasn't so much mesmerized by any power as I was enthralled by the click of her heels and the sway of her hips — the smirk on her sensuous lips saying "I own you," without words.
Better men would have run, but I'm not a better man… yet.
Eternal, and eternally-young, the woman — the girl — posed great risk. But, what worthy endeavor lacks hazard? Sanctuary or statutory? Seemed like a roll of the dice with this one.
A few more steps brought her closer. Her intoxicating aroma heightened my arousal. She leaned in, softly brushing her lips against mine. "Will you come up?"
As she placed my hands on her fertile hips, I incarcerated the risk, and kissed her back.
I followed her up the stairs ready for fate.
@Leo_Godin – 155 words
I can’t see her face. No features. Just shadow and shape outlined against the light above me. Typical that – just a little bit lofty.
It’s the frill of feathers that’s the giveaway. Stubby, adolescent, jutting from her back like some fluffed up duckling. She ain’t looked temptation in the eye and walked away. Nah. She’s stuck in the middle, a soul looking to prove herself. And if she don’t? Them pearly gates’ll slam in her face faster than you can say Old Pete and she’ll be down here with the rest of us proles who didn’t make the cut.
With me.
Question is do I want her? Can I be arsed twisting myself into some trussed up version of her darkest fantasy? Or playing the vulnerable baby? It’s a cracker that one, sweet as a nut for them with a martyr complex.
Nah, fuck it. Gabe can have her. This time.
@charitygirlblog with apologies for the bad language. 152 words.
Backlighting illuminated a staircase and window of wrought iron. At the top, a woman with cherub wings lifted her arms with a hip thrust.
Drums pounded at her signal, pulsing through the club, drowning out the people and driving my heartbeat to match its rhythm. Most watched the woman gyrating.
Only most.
Light fingers touched my waist. I caught the hand and whipped the offender around in front of me, noting the black business card in her hand.
“Sorry,” the young woman said, eyes wide. “Some guy asked me to give this to you. Quiet like.”
“Not quiet enough,” I said.
“Yeah, no shit. He failed to mention your ninja skills.”
I snatched the card and read the silver type.
Incarcerated Risks.
“That’s it?” Open to interpretation, then. “Oh, goody. An ex-felon dating service.”
The cardstock warmed in my hand and changed.
I made a phone call.
“I’ve got something. Meet me at 610 Hancock.”
@caramichaels
155 words
Personally, I didn't even notice, worked in the dialogue and character – liked it a lot!
The room smelled of sweat and beer, just the way she liked it. Nothing remained of the manor’s quaint atmosphere. She swayed under the multicoloured lights, taking in the chaos. A girl bumped into her, collapsing, spilling tequila everywhere. The woman smirked and turned away, thinking how appropriate the girl’s zombie outfit was. Halloween brought out everyone’s less civilised side – especially with her around.
A young man approached her. “Nice costume,” he said, lifting up his Frankenstein’s Monster mask.
“Thanks,” she replied, with a flirtatious smile. How amusing it was to go out without hiding her wings, yet pass as a human anyway. “Want to dance?”
They both writhed to the beat, until the shattering of glass caught the man’s attention. He yelled in horror as a brawl broke out over the spilled drink. The woman faked shock, hiding her satisfaction. Everything was going to plan. The more people she could corrupt, the better.
154 words (sorry I don't have a blog to link to)
I saw her soldiers desert her in the face of a seemingly unstoppable foe. I felt the ecstatic anguish of the slayer and the slain as she forced her blade through enemy after enemy until she was literally blinded by their blood.
In the end she had run just like her fighters, and that knowledge was chewing up her insides worse than any of her many injuries. She was exhausted and vulnerable. To become vulnerable myself was an acceptable price to approach her in this condition.
Incarcerated risks were my style—I controlled the space where she had come to rest and would show my mortal form to her alone. Sealed into the building with her I made myself visible on the landing by the leaded window. Feathers and silk appealed to her now, but soon it would be leather and chains that got her hot.
I love corrupting paladins.
150 words
@DavidALudwig
(didn't think I'd be able to post while out of town, but got lucky I guess–loved this prompt)
Against the alabastrine glow of miasmal daylight, cast like a writhing mass of curves upon the unforgiving lines of the window frame, her body is a divine chiaroscuro; a caliginous silhouette dancing in razor-cut shades of gray.
"Come," I beckon, waving her down from the stairway landing. "I want to observe your progress."
Silently, she steps toward me, her wings jerking in the involuntary fits and twitches common to synaptic pathways that have yet to connect completely, but I can see that extensions have begun to weave themselves into her musculature. In time, she will learn to use them.
The light catches her face as she stands before me, and I stare deep into the gnarled pits where her eyes once sat, inspecting the work of the Longinus acids.
"Very good," I tell her, pleased. "You are beautiful. Soon, the Earth will be gifted with another perfect guardian."
148 words
@AMarquise
The projected image showed a woman. Standing on the landing of a flight of stairs. Wearing nothing but what looked like bikini bottoms that were too small for her, a mid-riff bearing top that had no sleeves, small, black, feathered, fake wings, bsurdly tall high heels, and sheer black stockings. Her arms were raised above her head. Her hips thrust to the right.
The instructor spoke to us. “As you can see, this individual is behaving in a non-conforming, incorrect way. May people find her to be disturbing. We incarcerate people that behave in ways similar to this. They pose a great risk to social order. A risk we do not tolerate.”
The instructor continued. “There are people within our society who find such behavior interesting. They don’t see anything disturbing about it. We incarcerate them also, for they pose an even greater risk to social order.”
150 Words.
@LurchMunster
The jut of the hip, the slender leg. The dancer was shadow amongst the bright light coming in the window. Everyone was staring, mesmerized. Men were slack-jawed, women were firey-eyed. I could almost see the catty chatter that they would share with their friends.
The feathers fluttered in the air before she started to descend and the shape of the snake too form as it wound around her arms. No one paid any attention to it as it weaved back and forth, forked tongue flickering. No one knew that they wouldn’t leave unscathed, if at all.
The Council claimed that it was a risk to be incarcerated for such a crime but they never stop us. We take out the weak willed. The drums of war have started and the Seductress was doing her job.
The beast was hungry and it liked to swallow its prey whole.
147 words
@solimond
Competition closed!