Second Campaigner Challenge

It’s that time again! Rach amped up the challenge-y-ness this time, too. First, she gave us these prompts:

Two people are sitting together under the remains of a concrete bridge. Their backs are against a rusted bridge support. One person’s leg is cut. The other person has wet hair.

Prompt 3

Prompt 4

Prompt 5

Here’s the actual challenge:

Second Campaigner Challenge

Do one or more of the following:

    Write a pitch/logline for a book based on the prompts (less than 100 words)

    Write a short story/flash fiction piece of less than 200 words based on the prompts

    Write a poem with a twist using the prompts as inspiration (in less than 200 words)

    Write a story/poem in five sentences, each sentence based on one of the prompts

    Write a poem/flash fiction piece (in less than 200 words) about the water pear *without* using the words “pear”, “spoon”, or “droplet”.

For added difficulty/challenge:

    Complete at least three of the above activities and tie them all together with a common theme (feel free to either state the theme in your post or leave us to guess what it might be)

    Write in a genre that is not your own

    Ask Challenge entrants to critique your writing. After the Challenge closes, you may wish to re-post your revised piece(s), and I’ll include a Linky List at the bottom of this post for those wishing more feedback on their revisions (note: revised entries will not be judged, so please label clearly your original post and your revisions. Please do not offer critique unless someone asks for it, as per the usual blogging conventions. If you do ask for critique, make sure you ask for it clearly so people know you want it, and please be prepared to receive feedback that may not be 100% glowing. If you are a critiquer, please be tactful and courteous, and remember to provide positives as well as negatives.)

I ended up only doing two, as I couldn’t think up a funny story in just five sentences. Both are in a genre I don’t normally write, a super hero comic book-y type with (what I hope is) comedy thrown in.  I have to admit it’s not one hundred percent new to me, but I haven’t written something like this in three years, so I think it should count. Anyway, I really had fun writing these. The first one is based on all the prompts (the second item in the challenge) and the second is based on the water-pear one (the last challenge). The second one was also kind of an experiment for me, writing chiefly using dialogue. So…enjoy!

Nereid

A trio of ten year olds picked over the rubble. They were chased off three times already but they kept coming back.

Chris hobbled over to his friend, telling her the damage wasn’t that bad, most of the people got off the bridge. Ami twisted away, knocking flakes of rust off the fallen support she was leaning against. Despite the frosty treatment, he sat down, leg screaming where Nereid sliced it open.

“Super heroes can’t win ‘em all,” he said. No response.

One of the kids picked up a ball. “Found it!”

“Get out of here!” A cop appeared to chase them away. All three vanished in puffs of smoke. Giggles filled the air as the wraiths danced around the cop. He fumed, waiting for Ami and Chris to do their job and banish them. He’d have a long wait.

“This bridge was structurally deficient anyway. Plus the wraiths hanging around really annoy drivers.”

She wrung water out of her hair. Water elementals explode upon death. Who knew?

“I’m sorry. Please don’t kill me.”

Finally, she looked at him. “What have you learned?”

“When facing a super villain threatening to blow up a bridge, taunting him is a bad idea.”

The Human Grenade

“Fool! Know you not who you deal with?”

A small orb in front of him burst into a million pieces.

“You blew up a piece of fruit? Seriously?”

“Are you blind?”

“Actually, yes, in this form I can’t see colors. My vision in general is kind of wonky. But at least I’m not blowing up fruit for attention and making a mess.”

“That’s not what they are! You are purposely being ignorant!”

“I’m a giant humanoid beetle. My eyes work differently. Also, I don’t think you’re using that word right.”

“I don’t care if I use words right! I am the Human Grenade!”

“Does that mean you explode?”

“No! I make other things explode!”

“But ‘Human Grenade’ implies—”

“Enough!”

“Wait, I smell dynamite. You dynamited fruit.”

“Well…yes. But I exploded them with the power of my mind!”

“So you can only make things explode if they already have explosives in them? That’s not a power. It’s barely a replacement for blasting caps.”

“Oh? What can you do?” He stood, incredulous, as a ball of lightning formed between the other’s hands. About two seconds after that, he was being scraped off the wall.

PS: I'm number 52.