"Family Business" || Flash Prompt #1

Last week's post introduced a new Thing I'm trying: a regular writing prompt! Which anyone can join! (hint hint)

So—as promised—this week you get to read what I wrote. 

Which would make me very, very nervous, except I had such fun writing this that I don't even care.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Family Business

Alistair switched his grip on Alice Skye so she leaned, wobbly-headed, over his other shoulder. "Heather, what did I say about going out on your own?"

The teen paused, then pulled off her second boot. "You said not to." She nudged the long white boots into the chunky pile spilling out from under the bench beside the front door. "But Lucas came too."

Aware of the time it took Alice Skye to settle, Alistair took a breath before responding. "Lucas was grounded after the media picked up on the Elmar Street incident."


"Until Monday, you said, so after midnight I was allowed out." Lucas popped out from behind Heather, unstrapped his goggles, and stretched up to tuck them in the storage cube peppered with space stickers. "And my boots are too small."

Alistair sighed. "Again? Do you at least fit Rupert's now?"

Heather flicked back her hair and tied it into a long ponytail, the purple tips of her curls moving restlessly in the constant air currents that surrounded her. "Rupert's boots are entirely the wrong colour, Dad. Forest green? That's never going to go with Lucas' outfit."

"Lucas, see if you can find a pair, try them on."

"Yellow and aqua, Dad. Lucas wears pale yellow and aqua."

Apparently he was the only one to appreciate the price on a serious pair of boots. Wasn't green just a mix of yellow and blue anyway? "Then I suppose you'll be staying home, Lucas, because you can't go running across the rooftops barefoot."

"They only pinch a little bit," Lucas said quickly. His voice cracked.

Heather laughed. Her brother scowled at her. Alistair brushed a thumb across Alice Skye's soft head and watched as Heather's long white boots started to ooze water from their spot in the pile. Judging by the lack of retaliation, he didn't think she'd noticed Lucas using his powers against her yet.

Kids.

"If you two are going out, you can at least go with Rupert on his patrol."

"But he spends half his time sitting around talking—" Lucas turned to his older sister, his face suddenly guilty.

"He's talking to a girl," Heather admitted, exasperation in her voice. At which brother, Alistair couldn't tell. But she added, hastily, "She goes to my school, she's nice."

"Is he in mask or out?"

"In."

If he hadn't been occupied with holding a bubble-blowing, wobble-headed baby, Alistair might have put his head in his hands. Not that there was a problem, per se, but in-mask always resulted in Drama. "Fine. Don't go with Rupert. But Lucas isn't enough to count as 'not alone', Heather. Either the two of you take another one of your siblings with you—"

"—I'm fourteen, why is that not good enough?" Lucas jumped in, indignant.

"—or you can wait for the twins to get better so your mother can go out with you."

"I'm almost eighteen and you want me to go out with Mum?" Stripping off her white and gold jacket, Heather stuffed it into her storage cube and turned, hands on hips. "When was the last time we came home with anything worse than a sprained ankle, Dad?"

"I'm just really tired of watching you get thrown off the tops of buildings, even if you're not falling to your death. So sue me, I'm your father."

Alistair considered Heather's sigh a little more dramatic, perhaps, than the situation warranted. But the way she flounced out of the hallway was slightly damaged by the detour she took to press a kiss to Alice Skye's fuzzy head, her arms going around both of them in the process, before she continued upstairs.

No doubt to see whether she could redo the conversation to her advantage if she repeated it with her mother.

Good luck with that.

• • • • • • •

I gave this to my family to see if there were bits that made sense in my head but hadn't made it onto the paper clearly!

Me: tell me where it was confusing :)
Mum: they're... a family of stuntmen?
Me: ...so... the whole thing was confusing then?
Me: did you get any of it?
Mum: I got Alice Skye. I can understand a bubble-blowing, wobble-headed baby.

• • • • • • •

So, I wrote my flash fiction, and did it well in advance of the deadline for this post, and enjoyed doing it. (Except for the title. Titles can go die quietly in a corner somewhere. How do you title.) I have strong hopes that this post series will be immense fun...

If you liked the look of the prompt, grab it and write! And if you do use it, there's no graphic (yet), but link back and also drop a comment here so I can see what amazing things you've done!

(I will work on a graphic. Also a better name for the prompt series.)

• • • • • • •

The next prompt will be the first weekend of July. JOIN ME. 

...or else... *grabs nearest item and waves it threateningly*