Some Tumblr Ficlets

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 I reblogged a writing prompt meme on Tumblr recently and wanted to share some of the stuff I wrote... ! 


O. The stars or space - Alexios (Frontier Wolf)

The stars were very bright tonight. Alexios should be sleeping, should be getting some rest so he wouldn’t be tired when they arrived in Belgica, but the stars out here on the sea were too beautiful for him to ignore. 

They had always filled him with a deep sense of wonder. Perhaps if he hadn’t been a soldier, Alexios would have been an astronomer. The constellations of Orion and Perseus hung in the sky, and as he watched, a shooting star fell down from Orion’s belt. Alexios closed his eyes and made a wish that his new command would go well, and he could hear the wind and the waves against the ship all the more clearly. 

Feeling at peace, he returned to his tiny cabin below deck and slipped beneath the blankets, falling asleep easily to the rocking of the ship. 

R. By the water - Placidus (Eagle of the Ninth)

Servius Placidus knew he was a good hunter. He was a patient man, and he could wait here for hours if he needed to. In fact he had already been there an hour, he thought. 

At least he was in a cool spot now, shaded by trees and bushes, and with the breeze from the lake drifting toward him. He sighed, gripped his spear tighter, and looked out to see if any deer had come to drink yet. Still nothing. It seemed this lake wasn’t the well-used drinking place he had thought. 

He was close enough to the water to see part of his reflection, and he ran a hand through his hair, grimacing when he realized it had become flat and limp with sweat. He leaned in closer to try to fix his curls as much as he could, greatly looking forward to a bath when he returned home. He was so focused on his thoughts that he didn’t feel the bank giving out underneath him, until his feet were slipping and he was falling gracelessly into the water with a shout and a loud splash. The water nearly came up to his waist when he managed to find his feet again, and he cursed loudly, knowing all that noise had likely scared away any prey he might’ve found. 

Placidus dragged himself out of the water, deciding he would tell his friends that he had tried to spear a gigantic fish, but fell in as he tried to wrestle it. 

U. Coming home. Alexios

It had been years since Alexios had been home, to the family farm on the Downs. The last time he’d come here was after he had lost the fort of Abusina, and both his mother and he himself had been bitterly disappointed with him. That was his strongest memory of that visit, but now that he was here again, he was flooded with memories of how the farm had been, and he realized everything seemed to look more healthy now.

His mother started crying when she saw him again, and as he got down from his horse, Alexios half wanted to cry too. He had missed her, and he hoped that now she would be less disappointed, perhaps even proud of him… 

She hugged him tight, and he hugged back, smiling widely, before she pulled back to look at him better.

“Oh, Alexios, you look so good.” She wiped her eyes and smiled at him. 

“Thank you,” he smiled. “You as well.”

She squeezed his hand in both of hers. “Are you enjoying it? Your posting?”

He took a breath, smiling wider as he thought about it. “I am. My newest posting has been good, and I have been able to help my men. It feels good—like the right thing for me to do.”

“I’m glad.” She smiled and hugged him tightly again. “Even if you don’t have the glamorous career your uncle and I wanted for you, that is still the most important thing.”

I feel like I'm starting to get less into using Tumblr lately, but I certainly like all the askbox prompt memes over there. Maybe we should make that more of a thing here on DW too!