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Prompt

“I need you to go on a date with me. I told them I have one.”

The hero blinked. “Why not ask one of your henchpeople?”

“They’re like, below me and it’d be an abuse of power.”

P2 Obedience Without Rules

Part 1 here

******

“Why’d you do it?”

Hero was frightened at first, thinking the worse- that Villain was mad at her. And maybe he was, but not in the anger which Hero assumed. An anger which involved malice, hatred, and revenge.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think about it. I should have let him finish instead of-”

“Let him finish?” Villain squinted over at Hero, who wouldn’t face him no matter how gentle his tone was. Hero seemed- “Are you afraid of me?”

In response, the chains attached to Hero’s wrists clashed and jangled. She said nothing. Swallowed. Stared at the floor. Pondered whether this silence was a better or worse response than…than anything else. Maybe silence would upset Villain further.

Why exactly would he be mad with her? Well, it could have been for several reasons.

The first, Hero eliminated: Villain cared for her.

The second, infinitely more likely: Hero messed up, didn’t allow him to pass out- to avoid the pain which Supervillain caused.

The third, perhaps close to the first: Villain was annoyed by her self-sacrifice, only for it not to work. The stupidity of the act, the thoughtlessness.

“Hero.” Villain’s voice was more demanding this time- a mistake on his behalf. “You are afraid, aren’t you?” Even after that…scene. Villain felt bad, he did- though perhaps he shouldn’t have. He was truly a villain. Caring about whether or not some philanthropist was afraid of him might as well have been considered a crime against his own moral codes. And yet… “We’re- uh- we’re in this together, alright?”

Was such a simple statement easy to say? Not at all.

But was it necessary? Absolutely.

Truthfully, Villain wasn’t sure he would have survived had Hero not stepped in. Yes, he was upset- because he did believe Hero deserved better than to go through…through that. That, which Villain didn’t like to think of, even if it was over for the time-being. The torture.

In any way, Villain appreciated Hero for the help, but…but, it made him angry. Not at her. He couldn’t be angry with Hero, not for something that was so natural to her, and not when it saved him from more torment than he could handle. He was angry with Supervillain, for breaking someone not worth breaking.

It wasn’t that Hero wasn’t a worthy opponent. It was that she didn’t- again- deserve to be an opponent at all. She was kind, self-sacrificing, giving, thoughtful- in a caring way, not so much in a strategic one. Opponents were created with negative connotations, with spite and hate. Hero didn’t deserve that.

“What did you mean earlier,” Villain asked, “about letting Supervillain finish? Finish what?”

“Finish learning,” Hero said, voice almost quiet enough to miss. “It’s easier to let him finish the process, to- for you to sleep, so that it doesn’t- um- doesn’t hurt anymore. But I stopped him too soon and now-”

Is she sniffling? Villain couldn’t see her face anymore. She’d dropped it, letting her hair fall over her eyes and cheeks.

“-he’ll have to do it again. He’ll finish next time, have to do it all over again. I’m sorry.”

Don’t apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong, Villain wanted to say, but by judging the rest of this situation, saying anything would make it worse. Hero would view every word as a lie, or read it as aggravation, and fall further into brokenness. Not to mention, if Villain told Hero not to apologize, then she’d likely apologize again, feel bad for it, and then it’d become a cycle which neither party knew how to deal with.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Hero. It’s okay.”

‘It’s okay.’ Well, wasn’t that the biggest lie of all? None of this was okay, but it was all Villain knew to say. All he could do in order to give Hero hope.

That’s what she deserves.

Hope.

So, maybe it was a good thing, to say they were okay, that they would make it out. Because it was the only thing the two had left.

COMPLIMENT IDEAS #2

Here’s some more compliment based dialogue to use in your writing: 

“I love that color on you”

“You make me feel at home”

“I’ve never seen eyes the same color as yours”

“You look so cute when you laugh”

“Has anyone ever told you you have really nice hands?”

“I’m not going if you’re not going, it wouldn’t be fun without you”

“How is your skin always so soft?”

“Whoa I didn’t know you could sing”

“You have a great sense of humor”

“I thought you said you can’t dance?”

“I appreciate you”

“Your breath smells really good”

“I’m so lucky to have you”

“You always have great ideas”

“I trust your opinion”

“I would never doubt you”

“You’re so clever”

“I’m rooting for you”

“You always know exactly what to say”

“I feel like I’ve known you forever”

If you need me

Just a little longer

Hero took it step by step. Trying to ignore the pain in her leg. Trying to ignore the dread of being weaponless.

Sleep. You will sleep soon

She could already see the campus dorms.

You just need to get in and not get caught or get followed.

Everything was dark. Too dark to tell if she left blood on the floor. Signing, she started taking the steps to the common rooms.

When she reached the top, ever closer to her heaven, she saw a light.

Someone sat on one of the dusty chairs, reading by a lamplight. She doesn’t know how well she’d handle another bout with Villain right now. “Nice of you to come, Hero.”

Never mind. I prefer Villain

“Civilian.”

“Are you limping to your dorm at midnight?”

“Are you sitting alone in the common room?”

“One of these questions is more urgent.”

Hero tried to walk slower, hoping to hide her injury.

“Just go to sleep. We have a morning class.”

But Rival stood up and walked to her.

“Morning class is the least of my worries now.”

Both of them were almost completely in the dark, but she could tell he was sincere. His voice was rarely devoid of any cynicism or playfulness. He took her silence as a breakthrough.

“You don’t need to tell me anything, but if you’re hurt, I can help.”

“R-”

“Look, I know you’re tough. Everyone knows. That’s why I hate you. You have nothing to prove. So if…”

He cleared his throat, and turned his look from her. Despite hardly even seeing her face.

“If some bastard needs to learn a lesson, I can help you. I won’t tell anyone.”

Just barely, she could see his honey eyes shining. But the aching pain that constantly throbbed her leg reminded her of the dangers that follow.

Why can no one else know of Villain

“Hero?”

Rival asked, she could imagine the anticipation in his features.

“I’m fine, Rival.”

“H-”

“This is none of your business.”

Her tone wasn’t as harsh as it could be, but rather heavy-hearted.

But he didn’t push it longer, just stood as she at last continued walking towards her room.

She didn’t hear him move or speak until she almost closed her dorm door, his voice barely audible.

“I’m here if you need me, Hero.”

There were about three more seconds of silence.

Rival’s heavy footsteps filled the silence. And following them, much quieter, slier steps. These steps were coming towards her dorm.

“Wh- HERO RUN”

She heard Rival spurt back to her dorm’s way. 

Cursing, she hastily thrust her door open, fearing there was no time even for getting her hidden gun. Disastrously, she was right.

Villain held a dagger.

He held a dagger above Rival’s throat.

“Leave him.”

Villain smirked at her. 

His grip on Rival’s arms and the dagger he kept on his throat remained indifferent, both to her threat and to Rival’s struggles.

“Care much?”

“You know this will be a fight to the death, Villain.”

Hero answered, unleashing her own hidden blade. “And you know I will slit his throat way before you limp one step,”

She did her best to not show her dread. Not to imagine the light leaving the honey, radiant eyes she knew.

“But there’s a way to make this less bloody, is it?”

His message was clear. Hero glanced at Rival, his message was clear too. Ever so slightly, he shook his head.

“You are going to leave him, and we will take this outside, civilly.”

“H-”

Villain gripped Rival’s chin.

“Perfect.”

He threw Rival to the floor, almost cutting his jaw in the process.

“YOU PIECE O-”

Villain caught his face again.

“Shhh… we don’t want to make this harder for your girlfriend, do we?”

Rival seemed enraged, like he would murder Villain right here if he could, but before he tried to fight again, Hero got to him.

She pushed him away, hugging him, burying her head in her neck. Just below his ear.

Bewildered, Rival froze.

“under the bed”

She whispered, and let him go.

“Oh ~ it almost makes me regret I’ll kill you ~”

Grinning, Villain moved aside and gestured to the stairs. “Ladies first.”

Hero signed, giving one last look at Rival, who seemed disturbed, but determined as well.

As she walked down the stairs, feeling Villain creeping ever closer behind her, loudly thinking of just pushing her down, she hoped she heard Rival searching her room.

Soon later, when she could feel Villain breathing at her neck, a bang was heard. Villain’s grin froze on his face as he fell. Hero moved aside and looked up, meeting with radiant brown eyes.

I might prefer him over Villain

The next day, after dealing with the police, and after the noise from the tired yet curious students died down, Hero slept like a rock.

When she did wake up, slowly realizing that her morning class is long over. 

Signing, she got dressed and tried to calculate how many library search hours she’d have to go through.

But when she stepped towards the door, she saw something that was sled to her dorm.

They seemed to be, neatly written, detailed lecture notes.

Above them, rested a small sticky note, reading “I’m here if you need me”

SPOP CHARACTER CARDS 161/200

“i watch the dark red caper for the plot”

the plot:

Prompt #144

"Villain?" Civilian asked villain softly, twirling the ends of her hair in her fingers, her doe eyes casting up at villain.

Villain didn't respond, not turning to say anything to civilian or even casting her a simple glance. Civilian took his silence as an answer, knowing that villain never talked unless it was something important.

"Why did you become a villain?" Civilian questioned.

Once again, she received nothing but empty silence. She knew that villain and her weren't close, yet she longed to hear something from him. She couldn't hold back the raging feelings that churned restlessly inside of her as she stared at villain's unmoving back, waiting for a response.

Civilian let out a apologetic sigh. "Sorry–"

"I used to be a hero. " Villain cut in. Civilian instantly stopped herself from saying anything, her lips parting with anticipation as she waited for villain to continue.

"6 years ago I was a hero. " Villain continued, not turning around to look at civilian as if he was too embarrassed by the backstory. "But then I lost everything that I had: my family, my friends. . .my home. All because I had to save a group of people and everyone expected me to give up everything I have for other people. "

Civilian sucked in a sharp, painful breath.

"That day I realized something. " Villain spoke, his once rough voice now far and distant as if he was reliving memories that scarred him. "A hero sacrifices their loved ones for humanity. But a villain will sacrifice humanity for their loved ones. "

When villain finally stopped talking, civilian spoke in a gentle voice.

"Is that why you saved my life that day?"

But once again, her question was answered with nothing but painful silence.

Dash: I’m not great at the advice, but can I offer you a sarcastic comment?

Prompt #4

Villain was especially slow today. They had been off for the entirety of the week, but today it was like fighting a different person.

"Say," Hero asked in between punches. "Is something wrong?"

"Huh? Since when do you care?" Villain scoffed and landed a punch on Hero's jaw. They barely felt it.

Hero retaliated by punching Villain's gut, which caused them to grunt and double over in pain. Hero swore they hadn't hit them that hard.

They slowly approached their enemy, trying to look as nonthreatening as possible. Villain hated the pity in their eyes.

"Stay away from me." They growled and attacked Hero once more. This time, Hero didn't fight back.

Instead, they wrapped their arms around their nemesis, preventing them from moving. Even that small amount of pressure earned them a pained hiss.

"I didn't hurt you that bad." Hero stated. "Who did this to you?"

"That's none of your business-"

"Tell me." They demanded.

Villain sighed. "Supervillain."

"Your boss? I thought you guys were a team?" Hero questioned.

"A team?" Villain chuckled. "We're villains, Hero. As soon as I stop being useful, the alliance is over. Considering how many times I've lost to you this week, I'm lucky to be alive."

Hero felt their stomach twist. This was partially their fault. They knew they had just been doing their job, but they still felt responsible.

"You're coming with me." It wasn't a question.

"No way." Villain struggled against Hero's arms. "I don't need your pity nor your help."

"As a hero, it's my job to take care of those in need." Hero declared as they scooped them up into a bridal carry. "That includes you, whether you like it or not."

"I don't like it." Villain sulked.

"I know."

Outcast Heroine x her rival

The thought of inviting her, 

it didn’t even cross their mind, did it?

Heroine stared at the rest of her team, who never seemed to notice her existence. By the loud laughs and noticeable drop of seriousness, they were heading to the bar. Leaving her to be the only to work on their shared case. Again.

Who cares.

She will be the one who laughs at the end.

She might be the outcast here, but it only proved her worth. She works harder, she is more serious, she will solve this case. I will get to see the shock of her so-called teammates as she stares with cold, satisfied eyes.

She just needs to wait patiently until that happens.

Yet it somehow still hurts. And unwillingly, she caught herself stealing glances at the noisy group. Especially at one she thought would act differently. Her rival. 

He laughed with the others, seemingly forgetting her existence. He just never acted that way. He always argued with her, competed against her, sent her way his grin when he cracked a case and eye rolls when she beat him to it.

Called when she was sick, noted her insights, listened to her

But apparently there was a company he liked better.

Heroine’s tension calmed a bit when the noisy group finally left. She went over her suspect’s files again, looking for a loose thread. Loneliness was her curse, but mysteries her blessings.

The man she suspected was a history professor.

He is known to lock himself in his apartment and write books, rarely interacting with his colleagues and students.

The victim was a writer who’s newly published first book became the crowd’s favor immediately.

The two have barely known each other. 

But Heroine knew how deep jealousy could go. There were days she planned in her mind how she would hide the bodies of her teammates.

He had sent to someone else, the victim’s advisor- several ‘erroneous’ emails. They were clearly separated by words, but each was complete gibberish. 

Still, it seemed too weird, and she never saw an ‘error’ such as that.

She had earplugs, a workspace all of her own, and the calming feeling of unveiling another secrecy. 

Nothing could invade the mind, 

block any worries  and make someone forget about their existence like a good mystery.

She didn’t know how long she was in peace, until someone coughed from the other side of the room.

Rival stood there, with a lopsided smile, holding two cups of coffee.

“Something interesting?”

He walked to her desk and placed one cup beside her, having some awkwardness in his movements.

It was a cold coffee, with little milk and ice cubes.

He remembers-

“Oh, umm, thanks.”

Heroine cleared her throat.

“I have a hunch,”

She said, then questioned his motives.

“but it’s just a theory.”

He nodded slightly, getting the hint. But didn’t go yet.

“Well, you, want some quiet or-”

“Aren’t you going with the others?”

He blinked. Then shrugged, still having some awkwardness.

“I can’t let you be the only one who stays over. It makes me look bad.”

“Don’t blame your ugliness on me.”

“Ouch.”

He gave her a half-laugh, and sat in his place. There was silence for a little while. Heroine continued to go over emails, silently listening to Rival unpacking his equipment and playing with his pen.

“So, wanna share some ideas?”

He said it trying to sound unintrested, she noted.

Is this why you stayed?

“What’s it to you?”

“My job, actually.”

He expected a reaction for a moment.

Rival cleared his throat.

“I won’t take your credit.”

Heroine crooked an eyebrow.

“Promise. I wanna catch this bastard as much as you.”

Another’s comments may be helpful, and Rival, as cocky as he is, always kept his word.

“Come take a look.”

He came over, a little too quickly. Then leaned into her desk, right next to her chair. close

“The emails. There are several supposedly emails with errors, they make no sense and only contain one line or so, but there are too many of them.”

Heroine completely immersed herself in the mystery, trying to ignore the warmth she sensed from Rival.

“I tried to check some simple ciphering methods. The thing is, some words make sense when decoding them using straightforward letter-shuffling. But in each email there’s at least one word that never makes sense after deciphering.”

She passed him her papers, and he tilted down to examine it. For a moment, she could see his face from so close. Her gaze immediately turned to the printed emails.

“I highlighted these words. They are the only ones with special characters. If we decipher them, we might have proof that the suspect purposely wrote these emails to hide messages.”

“hmmm…”

His hand was quite close to hers, she realized, some part of her wanted to touch it. Learn exactly how warm he is.

Heroine took her coffee and drank almost all of it in one slip.

“He is not a mathematician, isn’t he? or a puzzler?”

“An historian.”

“It’d be tough to convince he made up a cipher.”

“True.”

“What did he research?”

“He had a fondness for royal families. He’d write about grand schemes and falls and such.”

“Did he write anything about Mary, queen of the scots?”

She tilted her head, trying to remember if she read about such character. 

“She’s been the queen of Scotland since she was six, but also wanted England. She got imprisoned and plotted to assassinate Elizabeth the first from a cell.”

“Well, you are knowledgeable, I’ll get you a paper star later,”

Rival rolled his eyes.

“but how does it help us?”

“She communicated her plot using a cipher.”

Heroine’s eyes widened.

“What kind?”

“Quite simple, but hard to decrypt- she used letter switching like you did, but she also made special symbols to refer to people.”

“So if we try to assign to each special character a possible name-”

“We’ll reveal the message.”

She was smiling. This mystery could be solved. Her hunch might be right. Oh, the looks on her teammates’ faces will be wonderful

“This is so much better than a drinking night.”

Rival chuckled, probably amused by my rapture as always.

Only now she noticed that he was smiling brightly, too. But it looked different. It looked softer.

She cleared her throat.

“We should get into it. I made a chart of how the letters shuffle, here, take, just think of things he’d want to hide and see if the texts make sense.”

She leaned over her desk, making a list of possibilities that jumped into her mind.

“Mind if I’ll work here?”

“Sure”

It only took an hour.

Heroine eagerly showed Rival her findings. A possible interpretation of the messages, in which the victim’s name and the place of the murder had code words.

Her hand rushed to her cup, only to see that it was empty long ago.

So this was it. She looked at Rival, and and he seemed a bit saddened, too.

“You can take some credit, you know.”

He waved his hand dismissively, packing his things.

“Nah. You’d figure it out anyway.”

“Oh, absolutely.”

Heroine started packing as well, already realizing she’ll immediately miss… whatever this is that they have now.

“Still, we… we did this together.”

Rival froze for a moment, staring at her with something akin to… awe.

“It’s yours,”

He smiled, incitement returning to his features.

“the fun is enough for me.”

They started walking together towards the door.

“More fun than drinking night?”

“Much more.”

Fortunately, their cars were in the same direction. There was still one more mystery.

“Why did you stay?” “Hm? I told you-”

“Seriously. You never stay overnight. You could actually be drunk right now, with, you know…”

The more amusing parts of our team

There was silence for a few moments, growing more noticeable every second. Rival was rarely out of words.

“It’s kinda nice when it’s just us”

Heroine stopped mid-walking and stared at him. It was her turn to be speechless. Is this…? Is he really…? 

“It is”

She agreed, eventually. Both of them stood on the road, blushing.

“We can… um… be tog- ”

She took a big breath.

“We can hang out the office. If you want.”

A small smile came back to Rival’s face.

“Yes. Sure. Great.”

MUCH better than drinking night