Welcome to the August Writing Challenge!

What's a writing challenge, you ask? Writing challenges are when I give you prompts or specific guidelines you must adhere to in your writing or give you specific goals to reach and everyone who manages to do the task successfully is a winner. This isn't a contest, so no one will be voting or choosing winners. Everyone is a winner! Isn't that awesome?

Well, as long as you meet the goal anyways.

This month, our theme is.... *drumroll*


A while back this character headcanon meme makes its way around Tumblr and a lot of people have answered questions for it. Your job is not only to answer the question, but to answer it in the form of a written story! Pick your favorite character or a character that challenges you or even a random one, then pick one of the questions from the list to answer and write your story. Simple, right?

You can do as many characters as you want per question or as many questions as your want per character. You may also combine one story to answer multiple questions/characters.

Below are the questions:

1) Something this character is truly proud of.
2) Who they want to please the most.
3) Who depends on them.
4) What they would do if they had one month to live.
5) A cherished personal belonging.
6) Something they lost, but would love to have back
7) This character’s favorite character
8 ) What kind of car they would drive.
9) What calms them when they are upset.
10) How they deal with pain.
11) This character’s favorite piece or pieces of clothing.
12) How they sleep.
13) What kind of parent they would be.
14) How they did in school
15) What cologne or perfume they would use
16) Their sexuality
17) What they’d sing at karaoke
18) Special talents they have
19) When they feel safest
20) Household chore they hate the most
21) Their fondest childhood memory
22) How they spend their money.
23) What kind of alcohol they drink
24) What they wish they could change about themselves
25) What other people wish they could change about them

There is no maximum word limit, and the minimum is 300 words. Please don't forget to state the character and question number you're answering at the top of your story post. Have fun!

Everyone who posts a piece that meets the outlined guidelines above will win the challenge! And when you have won enough challenges, you got these awesome bumpers!


So what are you waiting for? Get writing! You have until August 31st, 2015 to post your story.

If the story turns out to be really long (i.e. 3000-5000 words) should we put the text under a spoiler tag to reduce the length of the post, or is that not necessary?

I regret nothing about this prompt. 


Makoto- 25

Usagi shoved Makoto into her own apartment, only stopping to lock the door after them. After taking the shopping bags from Mako's arms and tossing them on the couch, she dug around in one and pulled out a neatly folded piece of clothing.

"Try it on again, I wanna see how it looks!" Usagi said, turning to give it to her. Makoto laughed and took it from her. 

"Alright, I'll show you!" She unfolded it and gave the blouse another long look, her face falling slightly. "You really think it's my kind of thing...?" Makoto asked again. She had tried it on in the first place because Usagi had said it looked good on her, and it had fit fine, but... maybe it was too girly for her. The blouse was form fitting, and pink and green with a rose pattern on it. But did it fit her look? Usagi caught sight of the doubt in her eyes and gently pushed the shirt closer to her.

"Trust me, Mako." she said, smiling. It always hurt to watch when Makoto hesitated because she thought she wasn't pretty enough for more feminine clothing. That dress she had worn to that school festival had looked amazing on her, but it was a rare occasion when she did things like that. Usagi just wished that she always had that confidence in herself. After a tense moment, Makoto smiled back.

"Okay, I'll just go to my room and"-

"But Mako, I could die of waiting!" Mako laughed again.

"Fine, you win, I'll change in the living room..." Usagi cheered and went to sit on the couch. Makoto turned away, her back to her friend as she lifter her tee shirt above her head. "I really need to turn the AC down in here, it's freezing..." She tossed the shirt to the floor and stretched her arms over her head before realizing that the room was too quiet. "Usagi...?" 

"Your back..." she finally said. It was almost a whisper. Makoto could hear the couch creak as Usagi stood up and walked towards her. Mako stood perfectly still as Usagi touched the spot just below her bra strap. "How did you get this scar?" It was a jagged mark a little smaller than her palm, where her skin was a lighter color than the rest.

"...Nehellenia." She wanted to lie and call it nothing, but that would just drag it out more. "But...it was worth it. Better me than you." She'd take the bolts of pain to her spine twice over if she had the choice to do it again. Usagi closed her eyes and hugged her, struggling not to cry. She also wished that Jupiter would put herself in front of her princess for once.

mangaka-chan wrote:

If the story turns out to be really long (i.e. 3000-5000 words) should we put the text under a spoiler tag to reduce the length of the post, or is that not necessary?

You can put it under a spoiler ^^

9 and 10 - Owen Grady, Jurassic World 

He had been taught from an early age to compartmentalize, and his stint in the Navy had only reinforced the idea. Take the pain, whether emotional or physical, put it in a box and put it aside. It’s what allowed him to stay cool in many situations that would cause other people to lose their cool. It helped him be an excellent animal behaviourlist, being able to project a calm energy at will. It certainly had proven well with the raptors. They had responded beautifully to him, accepting him as their Alpha. With others, with the exception perhaps Barry, they would push the limits, snapping their jaws, making rumblings sounds all in an attempt to illicit a reaction, and a reaction they got. Owen privately believed that they found the entire thing to be a fun joke or a game. They always seemed amused to him when they behaved like that.
 
Owen couldn’t help but wonder if all that compartmentalization was healthy for him in the long run. Every time he thought about Charlie, Delta and Echo, he would begin to feel a pain in his chest, and it became harder to breathe. He would put his feelings and thoughts in a box like he was taught and set it aside. Yet the next time he thought about his girls, or wondered how Blue was doing on her own, it became harder each time. Was he suppose to keep putting things into a box until he broke?
 
The few times he had had nightmares on the Island, going to the girls paddock and watching them interact had done wonders to calm him down from dream like memories from the Navy. He hadn’t realized it at the time, but they had helped him to come to terms with what he had seen and done. Without them, he felt like he was about to drown in the ocean, barely able to keep his head above water, and in desperation, had fallen back on the only thing that had worked in the past; compartmentalization, not that it was doing him any good.
 

“Mr. Grady?” the receptionist called. “The Doctor will see you now.” It was time he found a better way to deal with the pain.

Makoto-4

The doctors had given her a month to live. All those superhuman feats, those blows she had taken in place of her friends, and the general strain of being a senshi had finally caught up to her, and Makoto was dying. Her body couldn't keep up anymore. It was only a matter of time before her heart just stopped, and it was soon.

She had taken the news quietly at first. The other girls tried their best to stay cheerful around her, dragging her around to do different distracting things. They went clothes shopping, to the amusement park, out to eat, and to concerts and movies. And for a while she felt a little less numb, but as soon as she was alone in her apartment, something would snap, and she just felt like tearing the place apart. Anger and fear and denial fought for dominance, but none of them won her over, and Makoto spent a few hours curled up on the couch and trying not to cry or break something to express it. 

It wasn't fair at all.

After years of solitude and rejection, she had finally found friends and a calling, and now she'd be dead before she was 20. What kind of justice was that? 

At least she'd see her parents again...

"Makoto, is there a list of things you'd like to do?" Ami asked one day, 3 weeks before her expiration date. She looked up from her ice cream they had gotten at a nearby stand.

"A list?"

"You mean a...what was it called again? A pail list!" Minako chimed in.

"That's a bucket list, Minako..." Rei said.

"That's not the way I would have worded, but that's the general idea," Ami said. "What things did you want to settle or accomplish? Maybe we can help you do them." Makoto had to think about it. 

"There's one thing..." Usagi's eyes lit up.

"Tell us!"

---

Minako had tracked down his address faster than should be legal, but Makoto didn't mind her methods right now. Ami had been supportive of her desire for closer at least, and Rei had all but shoved her in the direction of his house, telling her that it was about time she had given him a piece of her mind. But now that she was here, standing in front of his apartment door, Makoto hesitated. 

Her old sempai always seemed to make her stumble, even now.

She gulped, breathed out, and then knocked firmly. A full minute passed with no answer, and Mako was about to give it up as a lost cause when she heard the door unlocking. It opened to show a young man, a few inches taller than herself. His blue eyes were half squinted in annoyance, as if he were expecting a salesman, and then they fell on her. 

"Who're you?" he asked, curious now. It stung a bit to realize that he didn't recognize her, but she pushed on. 

"You were my upperclassman in middle school," she said, locking eyes with him. Years later, and she still found him attractive, thought she did her best to not let it show. "You know, the one you dumped in the rain for being too freakishly tall."

"Wait...M-mako-chan?" He looked shocked as he studied her. "You look...different."

"Yeah, I bet I do." All that anger and embarrassment she had kept locked up after that incident was starting to escape now, and it laced her voice with something that made him take a step back. "Did you even think about how that affected me?" She had lost confidence in her appearance for years, always worrying about how others perceived her. "I can't believe I ever thought you were someone to look up to! Someone I thought I..." Makoto paused. "I thought I loved. You broke my heart that day."

"...So that's why you changed schools." He finally spoke again, quieter now. She expected to get an insult back, or a hurried denial, but he looked almost...ashamed? The fists her hands had formed loosened at her side as she stared him down. "And you tracked me down just to tell me how much of a jerk I was to my face?"

"Yeah..."

"Well...I'm sorry for what I did."

"Wait, what?" He laughed at her shocked face.

"I said I was sorry for being a jerk. You're completely right." He placed a hand on her shoulder, and she stiffened, blushing. "I'm not sure if I can really make it up to you though, but I'll try."

"U-uh...I was just trying to get that off my chest. I really didn't come for compensation or anything..." She hadn't planned much after she was done yelling at him. She just didn't want to die with sempai-related emotional baggage.

"Can I give you something anyway?" he asked.

"Like what?" The blush on her cheeks intensified as he stepped fully out the door, closing the gap between them. She could have pushed him away, but she decided not to. Seconds later, he had kissed her on the lips. She brought a hand up to her mouth, too stunned to say anything. Well that was too of the things on her bucket list down...

Owen Grady - Jurassic World 

5) A Cherished personal belonging with a small mention of 22) how they spend their money




Even though he wasn’t in the army anymore, Owen still found himself wearing his dogs tags; force of habit perhaps. They were so much a part of him that he didn’t even notice them anymore and the few times he had to remove them, he felt naked without them; vulnerable in a weird way. They were a barrier that protected him, helped keep him sane when everything around him was utter chaos. His life was constantly on the go, but his tags always remained the same.

Looking outside his window, he caught sight of her: his girlfriend, the only woman he had actually entered into a relationship with since he had left the Navy, and smiled. It wasn't as if he had a hard time getting woman. Occasionally he would take one out on a date when he needed to blow off steam, sometimes even going back to her room for the night, always making sure that there was no misunderstanding about it being a one night fling. His work with the raptors keeps him busy; maybe with the right person he could make it work, but he hadn’t found that one person yet - at least until he met her. Sure, the girls he had taken to bed had been nice and admittedly attractive, but he knew that once the lust faded, there would be nothing to keep the relationship going.

She had fascinated him from the start. She was confident in the way that she moved, and the raptors took to her instantly, in a way that Owen had never seen them do with anyone besides himself. Honestly, it should have been his first clue. His second should have been how he acted around her. Normally he was confident and sure of himself, but around her, he had been nervous. She had found it adorable, much to his chagrin. Regardless, he was glad that follow his gut and went after her. She was intelligent, capable of firing theories back at him, constantly kept him on his toes. She was spontaneous but at the same time, she brought a sense of routine and home into his life; something he hadn’t known he’d be desperately missing.

After nearly a year of being together, he was now sure more than ever; she was it for him. Owen was just stuck on how to take it to the next level. Should he buy her a ring? There wasn’t really any place on the Island to get one and with both of their jobs, they didn’t really ever leave it either. He could always order a ring online and have it shipped; it wasn’t as if money was an issue. Working a dangerous job had its benefits in terms of pay and with his housing free and food provided by the company, he was banking everything he was making. Shopping online though, it felt rather too impersonal for Owen’s taste. He wanted to give her something personal, something that had meaning.

“Hey,” he murmured, kissing her neck, his arms wrapping around her waist, pulling her to him, as she entered his office in an attempt to escape the heat. “I have something for you, close your eyes.”

Once she complied, he slid an object out of his pocket where he had put it earlier, and gently placed it over her head careful of the messy bun she kept her hair in for work, sliding it down so it rested against her chest. “You can open your eyes now.”

“Owen, is this?” she turned in his arms, his dog tags clasped tightly in one hand. Her eyes watered as she looked at him, searching for any sign that this was a joke or he wasn’t serious. She seemed to find what she was looking for though, as a huge smile graced her features. “Yes, of course Owen, yes!” He kissed her then, grateful that she had heard the message that he hadn’t said; that she was it for him, he wanted her in his life now and always. She’d always been able to read him well and in this moment he was glad for it.

19) When they feel safest - Zoisite (Huzzah a Sailor Moon one!) 


It was his job to be in dangerous situations. Protect the Prince; that was his duty. He was supposed to lay down his life for a man who had become a close friend, if the need ever arose. It wasn’t the thought of dying that scared him, no, he was ready for that, had been ready for years. It was the thought of failing his duty that scared him.
 
What would his life have meant if he failed in protecting the one thing that mattered? What would happen to his planet? If he survived and the Prince did not…he shoved the thoughts aside, unable to continue the train of thought.
 
There were other things that scared him as well; the thought of losing one of his brothers-in arms chilled him to the bone even though he knew it was their duty and that they would do it without hesitation, same as he.
 
The sound of war scared him. It wasn’t so much the sounds themselves, but what they represented: death, destruction, and, betrayal. Loud noises or anything of the sort that he could associate with war and fighting scared him. Sometimes they would trigger horrible memories that would sometimes bleed into nightmarish what ifs. They would leave him trembling in bed, gasping for breath as he tried to make sense of them.
 
Few things in this world made him feel safe anymore. Seeing his Prince on a daily basis and knowing that he forgave him – it wasn’t been your fault, you were brainwashed, Endymion told him over and over again – despite his betrayal, and that he was alive and well brought him some measure of comfort.
 

One place he felt the safest really stood out to him; wrapped up in his lovers arms. Zoisite sighed as he fully relaxed into Kunzite embrace. It had been a tiring day and many horrible memories had triggered, but he knew that once he was here, he could relax and nothing would harm him. He truly felt safe.

Arf erf ugh meh... I tried  Thinking about doing this since it was posted, but changed characters a hundred times and ideas another hundred times. So before the month ends, here we go.

3 - Kunzite

He was looking at them running together as if ranks and blood didn't matter anymore. They were laughing. It had only been a few years since the four of them came to this castle and pledge their allegiance to the one they would have to protect with their lives. It had taken everything to get some of these kids out of their shell and it wasn't yet a perfect harmony, nor did he expect it to ever be one. They were too different. They could work as a team, however, though it hadn't been an easy feat either. But as time passed, they had proven it to him : they were good and they could come together when needed – god did he wish they hadn't learned to team up for pranks as well, they were now a mess for everyone leaving in this castle.

And the prince...

His eyes fell on Endymion who was actually laughing with the others. It was a genuine laughter and one Kunzite liked to hear. He knew the four of them hadn't be called only to answer the protective duty the King had publicized. They were Endymion's court, they were his friends (whether any of them liked it or not), they were his companions in his solitude, they were his shoulders to cry or yell on...

How much had been given to them that maybe should have been taken care of by someone else?

Nephrite and Jadeite were now wrestling on the ground, Endymion encouraging them loudly and Zoisite laughing more quietly. He was standing aside, further away from them, but still a part of this strange group of wild young men, bound to assure the protection of the Golden Kingdom for the rest of their life.

And this vision made everything clearer: those boys depended on him to keep them together, even if it meant not being as close to them as they were together.

What would happen if he failed them?

Thank you all for your participation!! Don't forget to grab the appropriate challenge bumper