How To Write Liars Believably

when whumper is untouchable

powerful. a king, a general, a noble. they have the world’s resources at their fingertips 

beloved. rich, connected, influential. adoring fans who will rip you to shreds if you say a word against them

superpowered. hyper-intelligent, massively destructive, or a mind controller. the game is just too easy for them

an unstoppable force. a giant, a dragon, a god. an army couldn’t stop them. what are you going to do?

when the odds are stacked against you and you know it won’t be over until one of you is dead

Imagine this..

You are the healer and support of your traveling party. Unfortunately.. you also seem to be the side character in their story.

Constant danger. Constant use of your mana to shield others and heal them. Your only purpose is to make sure the main characters don't drop dead.

The only one who seems to have your back is the orc barbarian. Also, another character who seems to be on the sidelines as the 'main characters' forge their story. He constantly makes sure to protect you and that your voice is heard as well.

But after, yet another, dangerous battle, the group gets separated. You were shielded from falling debri by the orc barbarian. The dust settles as you both are hurting, tired, and quite done with following the main protagonists this far.

"We should find shelter near water.. then camp for the night." The orc suggested as you both carefully evacuated from the battle sight.

Without the main characters around for the narrative to focus on.. It felt as if your arc was just beginning.

Day I

"The Embassy is locking up Hero Cave-In for theft two days ago. At 5:26pm on Wednesday, eyewitnesses say she walked in, silent and menacing, crumbled the walls, and grabbed several bars of gold before exiting and flying away. The stash has yet to be found, but the Embassy is holding her in custody until it is found."

Millet turned off the TV and got up. On Wednesday at 5:26pm, Bush was with her sparring. Now they're saying she's a thief. No chance. Millet put on his old suit and flew over to the Embassy just as the holding van pulled away.

Millet walked through the front door to the holding cells and looked at his granddaughter and smirked as official looking people crowded around.

"Sir, uh... Bytewave? You're not allowed here. Please come with--"

"You locked my granddaughter in this lazy excuse for a holding cell with no real evidence that she did anything. She may uphold a moral code of heroics and formality, but I disagree. And if I disagree, I think you'll find it rather hard to hold me. So, before I turn this cell to rubble, I'll ask: Would you please unlock the door so we can go home?"

"Sir, she was caught on camera--"

"My family is very powerful, but we cannot be in two places at once. That is for Emotion and Cosmic. She was with me at the time that she would have done the crime you accuse her of, she is not so fast that I would have missed her travelling back and forth, and she is no thief."

"Of course, everyone would like to believe that their loved ones are innocent. However, we cannot weigh the testimony of a... villain over that of video evidence-- glchk." Mordred held the man up by his neck so they were eye level.

"Now I'm only gonna say this once more. She is not responsible. In fact, based on the footage, I don't think whoever framed her actually knows how she operates. Open that door before you're down a cell. Please." He dropped the guy, but no one moved.

He raised an eyebrow before sighing in defeat. As though on its own, the cell door fell away into dust and he called his granddaughter. She followed, an obvious look of apology, innocence, and pity on her face as she passed.

Bytewave stalked back out of the building, sending into walls whoever dared try to grab Bush. Villain he may have been, but he was not in the mood to kill. Not quite yet. This was not a death-worthy mission. Yet.

They took to the sky, but were not a block from his home, still in eyeshot of the Embassy HQ, when a hero, Sun Yun blocked the way.

"Please move," Bytewave warned, an edge to his voice that warned of violence.

"You're not taking a criminal from her rightful place without going through me."

After a beat of silence, Bytewave replied, "You're right. I'm not taking a criminal. I'm taking my granddaughter. Back home, where she should be. And getting through you? Well, that shouldn't be a problem."

Bytewave got into fighting stance as Sun Yun charged at him. He casually dodged, then grabbed Bush and flew off. Sun set her on fire, knocking her to the ground with the force of the blast.

Bytewave snuffed out the fire and set her down on a nearby rooftop, then rose up face to face with Sun Yun.

"You know I was a villain, right?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"No one forced me to retire. I did it myself. But I train others. I'm not fighting the system every two minutes, but I like to think I'm like a knife, still worth cutting a few weeds." He punched Sun, a harmless sonic boom echoing through the streets, Sun flying backwards. Sun Yun cannoned towards Bytewave, but he dodged, continuing to do so even as Sun released a barrage of attacks, each combo more sophisticated than the last. Bytewave had more trouble keeping up with when one combo ended and another began than avoiding the attacks.

Bytewave pressed his hand to Sun Yun's chest, looked him in the eye with a gaze filled with more disappointment than anger or even disgust, and reduced him to atoms.

You, a retired villian by choice, have just received new about your grandchild, a hero, being falsely accused of crimes he didn't commit causing you to demonstrate why you retired.

heyy i don’t have something specific in mind but can you please right something about a morally grey villain and a civilian. make it romantic and flirty and stuffff

Civilian was going to die.

The explosion from the bomb had obliterated half the bank within fractions of a second. The blast was far enough from their office that they weren't directly affected, but evacuating the actively crumbling building could easily kill them.

Rubble rained down as they desperately ran down the dusty hallway to the stairwell. Why did they have to be three stories up? Would they even get all the way down before the place collapsed?

Boom!

Civilian barely had time to react before they were thrown off their feet from the force of the blast that had detonated from the room beside them. Their back smacked into the opposite wall, pain and shock rippling through them as they hit the ground, rendering them helpless.

They couldn't move. This was it. They were going to—

"Oh, sweetheart."

Civilian jerked their head up to see someone standing over them, not a single speck of dust visible on their impeccable black clothes. Not the uniform of a co-worker or a rescue team member, Civilian realized with dismay.

The person crouched down in front of them, head tilted. "I could've sworn I got everyone out in time. I guess you're just a little elusive, huh?" They smirked and ruffled Civilian's hair, wildly playful considering the life-or-death situation they were in right now.

Wait.

The realization struck them like a brick to the head. “You set the bomb off,” they wheezed. “You’re Villain.”

Villain gave them a mock salute. “Nice to meet you too."

The floor wobbled dangerously and Civilian squeaked in fear, trying and failing to prop themselves up. "Please...please don't kill me," they blurted.

"Wow, who do you think I am?" Villain placed a hand on their chest in mock disbelief. "Eh, besides, you're too cute to murder. Or leave for dead,” Villain added as the building groaned, swaying on its foundations.

Civilian flushed, not sure if they should be flattered or absolutely terrified that their whole fucking workplace was about to collapse and that this bastard was trying to flirt with them—

Villain scooped Civilian up without warning, hoisting them into a bridal carry. They yelped in surprise as a block of cement crashed down onto the exact spot where they were laying just seconds ago.

“See?” Villain grinned at Civilian, bearing in close. “Too cute to leave behind.” Their face was near enough for Civilian’s eyes to flick down to their lips. Their grin widened in acknowledgment.

Villain turned abruptly and ran down the hallway towards the stairs, throwing the door open. Three flights down stared back, seeming infinitely long, too long.

But Villain was still smiling like they were gonna make it out of the bank on time. They looked down at Civilian, who had unconsciously fisted their hands into the lapels of Villain’s jacket.

“Yeah, just like that,” Villain said, winking at Civilian.

Civilian blinked, their mind flailing for footing. Just like what—

“Hold tight!” Villain whooped, and instead of booking it down the steps, they jumped onto the railing and slid down, handless.

Holy fucking shit. Civilian squeezed their eyes shut and held on so tight onto Villain’s jacket, stomach lurching. If the bombs didn’t take them out, then this would definitely—

They felt the Villain jump onto solid ground before they could even finish their thought. Oh.

“Aren’t you a scaredy-cat,” Villain teased, that shit-eating, infuriatingly charming grin back on their face. “Ever been on a roller coaster before?”

“No, I’ve never had fun in my life before, actually,” Civilian snapped back sarcastically.

“Hm,” Villain made their way out of the stairwell, casually walking towards the entrance as if the bank wasn’t crumbling around them. “Well, they’ve been saying amusement park dates are all the rage. Maybe this is my sign to take you out.”

Civilian fumbled for a response. Why was this criminal so good at rendering them speechless?

“You’re not saying no…” Villain murmured, exiting the building seconds before it promptly collapsed, throwing onlookers into chaos and allowing them to blend in with the crowd. The timing was almost comedic.

They slipped into an empty alley, Civilian still in their arms.

“I’m not putting you down until you say yes,” Villain urged, eyes glinting with playful mischief.

Civilian, despite themselves, rolled their eyes. “Aren’t you supposed to be a bad guy? What happened to ‘Now I take you back to my spooky dark lair and lock you up and torture you until Hero comes and I fight them to the death’?”

Villain smiled, but it was warmer, more genuine this time. “I guess I prefer it when people look at my lips and clearly want to kiss me instead of looking at me like I’m a monster.”

Civilian paused, dissecting the layers of that statement before—damn them—glancing again at Villain’s perfectly kissable mouth.

Villain ran their tongue over their bottom lip, clearly toying with Civilian, but fuck, it was working.

It was the nearing wail of police sirens that shook them out of their trance. They groaned, stupefied at how they almost fell for the person who just blew up their workplace. “Please put me down.”

“And here I thought I almost had you.” Villain sighed and set Civilian down on the ground. “Unfortunately, the authorities tend to annoy me a bit, so this is where I take my leave. It was nice meeting you, sweetheart.” They bowed to Civilian and began to make their way down the alleyway.

Fuck, the way the nickname made Civilian’s stomach flutter. Fuck fuck fuck— “Disneyland, this Friday, 10 AM,” they blurted.

Villain stopped in their tracks, and although they didn’t turn around. Civilian could feel that stupid little smirk on their face.

“See you then.” Then they disappeared around the corner.

As it turns out, roller coasters really weren’t so bad when you have someone doing it with you.

Caves are weirder and more varied than you think

You took the gun from her shaky hands and shot the informant between the eyes.

"One thing about wielding a gun. When you pull it out, be committed. If you're not committed, don't show your hand. This was a controlled environment, but that noncommittal could cost you your life."

Writing Prompt #2880

"Stop trying to help me. I can do this myself."

"Quite frankly? You can't. You're one mistake from having a nervous breakdown or hurting yourself because you can't think clearly. Now, swallow your pride, and give that to me."

Day X

Damaged Goods

Quincy was in the market for a droid, so he went to the nearby shop, Empori-Droid. It was blindingly white inside, "new and improved" models on the display floor and in the window next to older models. While the new models were awesome and generated revenue, it was the older models that generated the most.

He looked through the sleek models. They were beautiful, but not quite what he was looking for. Eventually he saw a retired military droid off in the corner. It... called to him.

"What about that one?" He pointed.

"Oh," the saleswoman said, obviously uncomfortable, "We were supposed to put that one it the back. It got messed up and we needed to get rid of it." She moved toward it, but Quincy countered with, "I'll buy it." She froze and looked at him.

"R-Really?"

"$100,000"

"Uh, that's... that's a lot for a damaged, broken model."

"Give me the basic, no, advanced package for 150."

"Uhm.... Let me... talk with my supervisor, but, ummm, I'll see what we can do."

Birdy (I)

"Ah, little bird. Unexpected, but not unwelcome. Why're you here today?" [Supervillain] was a mastermind, a chess master (both literally and metaphorically), overall, a really smart guy. But he wasn't too keen on getting his hands dirty. [Villain] bowed on one knee before him. He refused full subjugation, but he was lesser and weaker.

"What do you want [Supervillain]?" [Villain] asked, exasperated. "I'm tired of this back-and-forth we keep doing. Just kill me or let me go or whatever, but end this."

"Finally at the begging stage." A melancholic note of bitterness crept into [Supervillain]'s voice. He liked begging. It meant he was in control. But he hated the sound of it. It was just so... pathetic.

"How do you write such realistic dialogue-" I TALK TO MYSELF. I TALK TO MYSELF AND I PRETEND I AM THE ONE SAYING THE LINE. LIKE SANITY IS SLOWLY SLIPPING FROM BETWEEN MY FINGERS WITH EVERY MEASLY WORD THEY TYPE OUT. THAT IS HOW.

Word List: Very

Very—to a high degree; exceedingly; exact, precise

Absolutely - completely or totally

Astonishingly - causing a feeling of great surprise or wonder

Astronomically - enormously or inconceivably large or great

Awfully - informal: exceedingly great

Certainly - in a manner that is certain; indisputably

Chiefly - most importantly; principally, especially

Considerably - large in extent or degree

Decidedly - free from doubt or wavering

Distinctly - presenting a clear unmistakable impression

Especially - used as an intensive

Exceedingly - to an extreme degree

Exceptionally - to an exceptional degree; more than average or usual

Extremely - to an extreme extent (i.e., existing in a very high degree)

Incontestably - not contestable; indisputable

Incredibly - in an incredible manner; extremely

Indubitably - too evident to be doubted; unquestionable

Inordinately - exceeding reasonable limits; immoderate

Largely - to a large extent; mostly, primarily

Notably - in a notable manner; to a high degree

Obviously - as is plainly evident

Particularly - to an unusual degree; in particular; specifically

Profusely - exhibiting great abundance; bountiful

Really - truly, unquestionably—used as an intensifier

Recognizably - to perceive clearly

Significantly - to a significant degree (i.e., of a noticeably or measurably large amount)

Strikingly - attracting attention or notice through unusual or conspicuous qualities

Substantially - being largely but not wholly that which is specified

Surprisingly - to a surprising degree (i.e., something unexpected or unusual)

Tremendously - to a great or tremendous extent; extremely

Uncommonly - unusual; remarkable, exceptional

Unquestionably - not questionable; indisputable

Unequivocally - in an unequivocal manner (i.e., clear, unquestionable)

Unmistakably - not capable of being mistaken or misunderstood; clear

Vastly - to a very great or vast degree or extent; exceedingly

Wonderfully - in a way or to an extent that is extremely or unusually good or pleasing

More: Word Lists