Writing Prompt Wednesday - Random Aspect Generator

Writing Prompts

Due 3/1/13: This week I decided to take the Chuck Wendig writing challenge with a random number generator and a list. My results: erotic fairy tale in a mall with a puzzle-box. 

For the record, I don't usually read or write erotica, so this is waaaaay outside my comfort zone. So I made good use of metaphors.  

For a list of the writing prompts I share, please see my Writing Prompt page :)


Beauty On The Beat

The hard steel shaft of the baton thumped against Grace’s thigh as she ran down the empty mall concourse, away from the… thing… chasing her. She hadn’t signed on for this. Breath burning, chest heaving, she pushed her legs faster, hearing the scratch of claws on the tile behind her, getting closer by the minute. Her dad had warned her not to take his position. He’d told her the night watch at the Eldforest Mall was not a job for a rookie fresh out of Security Guard training. She hadn’t listened. Elders help her, but she wished she had.

Rounding a corner past the fountain with a smirking mermaid, Grace tried to think where to go. She was headed for a dead-end, and she could practically feel the breath of the thing coming up behind her.

Ming’s Imports was the last store, tucked in a corner. Why had she run this way? Surely the larger department stores would have offered more places to hide? They certainly had more fae zipping around that could have offered some sort of cover or shield or magical deterrent. Another reason her father hadn’t wanted her to clock in for him. She didn’t have magic.

Skidding into the security grate, the rubber soles of her boots squeaking on the smoothly waxed tiles, she fumbled for her keys. Please, please, please let her have enough time. There were dragons in Ming’s. If she could let them out, maybe they could fight off the growling beast closing in behind her.

Shoving a key into the lock, she felt it turn just as a large clawed hand raked down her back and shredded the back of her uniform. The force of it pulled on the armored shirt enough to pop the top few buttons off. The claws were sharp enough that they cut through the armored spells enough to open her soft flesh in shallow scratches down her skin.

Grace sucked her breath in pain, yanked up on the security grate, and fell forward into the store. She twisted, avoiding another swipe as she rolled, her back aching. Dark fur and glowing yellow eyes followed her into the store, stalking her as she rolled under display tables. Where were the dragons? Was everything in the mall afraid of this thing?

The yellowed claws of the hind legs bit into the tile floor as the thing flexed and jumped. The wood of the display table above her cracked as its weight landed on it, followed by the crash of jade and crystal statues hitting the floor and shattering on either side of her. Rolling out would not be an option. She frantically crawled forward, just wanting to get away from the sheer size of the beast. It howled, a gutteral earth-rending sound that stopped Grace’s movements, filling her with such despair that she wanted to weep.

It leapt again, to a far corner of the store, and Grace felt a moment of hope. Lying flat against the floor, she squirmed out from under the display case, and slowly headed toward the back room door. The dragons had to be in there. If nothing else, she could maybe find their portal and escape to their realm. Convincing her feet and legs to keep moving, however, was more of a chore. Every time she stepped, a chunk of broken statuary would crunch underfoot, and sliding forward meant rubbery squeaking.

The beast was large. Taller than anything she’d ever encountered and covered with thick matted dark fur. It was pawing at the puzzle boxes, the claws of the hands too large to press and move the intricate pieces. What was a raging lunatic of a monster doing with puzzle boxes?  Grace frowned, and then decided it didn’t matter, if the thing liked puzzles, she might actually survive the night.

Flicking her long brown ponytail back over her shoulder, she took a moment to survey her options. Backroom door meant dragons which might equal help. Store front equaled large open spaces where more monsters might be lurking, or possible escape out of the mall. And big hairy beasty in the corner trying to grapple with a small intricate puzzle box. She took a step toward the backdoor, and the thing turned it’s glowing yellow eyes on her, growling.

Dammit. It didn’t move, it just stared at her. She felt cold wetness on her back, and wondered how badly she was bleeding. She glared at the beasty and took another step. Its head turned and followed her movement, and instead of growling, one of it’s large misshapen hands flicked the puzzlebox at her, accompanied by the same heartrending howl.

The puzzle box flew over the room, hitting a few statues on it’s way, causing more domino effects of crashing and breaking on its trajectory toward Grace. She ducked. It slammed into a large bronze Buddah behind her, filling the room with a hollow dong that shook her eardrums.

The puzzle box should have shattered. There should be wood splinters everywhere after hitting the statue with such force. It rocked up against Grace’s boot and rested there, perfectly whole. 

The sheer weight of emotion behind the howl, the bronze statue singing at her, and the warm inviting pulse of the wood forced all other thoughts out of Grace’s mind. She reached down and picked up the puzzle box. It was warm, pulsing in her hands as though alive.

It must be spelled. She looked over at the beast to find it staring at her with unblinking eyes. She looked back down at the box, feeling the rhythmic throb against her fingers. The various pieces were engraved with delicate calligraphy and beautiful carvings of leaves and trees and animals in minute detail. Turning the box in her hands, she felt a charge of electricity run up her arms. 

On the bottom of the box were letters she recognized, spelling a name. Grendel.

Before she’d finished reading it, the beast itself landed in front of her with a crunch of broken glass and scratching of nails. Fear made Grace’s mouth go dry as she felt the heat of its breath as it leaned down and sniffed the box with its deformed snout. Slowly it lifted its head and looked up at her with golden eyes.

“Is this… yours?” she croaked out, clenching the box and trying not to drop it.

The thing growled at her and Grace jumped. Heart racing, she held the box up between them, using it as a shield.

“Do you want me to open it?”

This time it whined, a piteous awful sound, and bumped the box with its forehead, carefully. The fur was so soft, she found her fingers had tangled in it before she even realized they had moved from the box. Grace jerked her hand back and nodded sharply, fighting an urge to run. What the hell was happening?

Focusing on the box, she caressed the edges of the wood, considering the moving pieces. She slid them back and forth, feeling the energies between the pieces collide and mesh as she worked them. She’d never felt this way before, felt so empowered. She could feel it in her bones when pieces slid into place perfectly. The energy built until finally she exclaimed aloud when it was solved. The beast was looming over her, claws carefully away as she opened the lid, eyes alight with wonder.

A flash lit the little store so bright that Grace was blinded. She dropped the box in effort to shield her eyes, but the damage was done. When the box hit the floor, the tension of energy that had built up dissipated in a shocking moment that left her feeling cold and empty. That would not do, she wanted that feeling back. Something important had just happened. She’d done something, but it wasn’t finished. That couldn’t have been everything. Leaning forward to find the box, her fingers encountered the same soft hair, and upon touching it, found the same energy there, waiting to blend with her, fill her.

Hesitantly, she let her fingers trace around and feel the shape of the head. It felt human, normal, round-shaped. The hair tickled her fingers as it curled around them briefly. As she moved her hands and palms, unshaved scruff along the chin-line confirmed the beast was no beast at all any more. Blinking open her eyes, she made out the shape of a man kneeling in the shards of broken glass before her. His hands reached up and touched her arms, caressing up to her elbows slowly, sending tingles of energy through her.

Grace stepped forward and he enfolded her in his arms, his head nuzzling into her stomach above her security belt. His hands circled around her waist, rubbing up and down the shredded shirt with his strong fingers, healing the wounds in her back. Grace’s fingers found the clasp to her security belt and undid it, the weight of it hitting the ground with a dull thud as she pulled him into a kiss, savage and primal. Their energies collided, meshed, and burned together, 

Grace discovering her magic, and Grendal discovering his humanity.