February Writing Challenge: Day 1
Feb. 1st, 2021 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wordwhackerNew month, new challenge! I'm spending at least 10 minutes every day revisiting a prompt from last month. No other restrictions, as long as I'm working on it in some capacity.
Today, I did some additional brainstorming and character fleshing-out for my January 1st Prompt. Original post and prompt is here. Today's brainstorming is behind the cut!
What is this "object"? Do I want to keep this setting mundane? Or have there be some magic element? Maybe keeping it a little more mundane is better. A young heir to a throne, a direct line of succession - but they are too young yet.
And the caretaker is a bodyguard of sorts. Someone who has been in the employ of the royal family for a long time; one of the few people who they feel they can trust. The bodyguard feels trapped - how did they come to have that position? Maybe they used to be a celebrated general, someone who came up through the ranks, saw a lot of battles. A lot of real living, which they used to find glorious. But they lost people. Friends, in battles; their family, when the kingdom pulled out of an area because they deemed it a reasonable sacrifice to keep the core of the kingdom strong. These things started to sew feelings of vindictiveness in the soldier. And now, their swang song, their final post: keep this heir to the throne safe.
They have become efficient at hiding their emotions. They were always known for being the person to get the job done. But there are feelings boiling beneath that calm surface. They have kept so much inside.
Now they have a chance. There is a rebellion brewing. They stand against the injustices the bodyguard has helped perpetrate. Could they make contact? Provide knowledge from the inside? They start reaching out, carefully, quietly, taking their time. They start to build the long con.
In the meantime, this child is starting to grow up, and they are - against their will - starting to get to know them. The child is smart, a little spoiled, but with a streak of kindness that takes our bodyguard by surprise. They see the bodyguard as a person.
And now that they're growing into a young adult, the bodyguard is starting to watch them have that kindness driven out of them. Watching the burdens of rulership start to weigh them down, press out the things that made them interesting, special. They start lashing out. Their friendship - careful as it had been - starts to crack.
This would be the moment. To break the ties; to lead the rebels in. They would have the heir killed; the kingdom would be turned on its head. The bodyguard could make it happen.
Or they could help the heir be kidnapped. And... then what? They couldn't stay - for 'failing' at their duty, they would be killed. And how would they know that their charge would come to no harm? Obviously, they would go with them. Take upon themselves the duty of unprogramming this heir, hopefully making them understand. Would they? Or would they hate the bodyguard for taking them away from their life - their family, distant and twisted though they may be? Their friends, grasping as they may be? Everything they knew, even though it was built on the backs of people the kingdom used?
Today, I did some additional brainstorming and character fleshing-out for my January 1st Prompt. Original post and prompt is here. Today's brainstorming is behind the cut!
What is this "object"? Do I want to keep this setting mundane? Or have there be some magic element? Maybe keeping it a little more mundane is better. A young heir to a throne, a direct line of succession - but they are too young yet.
And the caretaker is a bodyguard of sorts. Someone who has been in the employ of the royal family for a long time; one of the few people who they feel they can trust. The bodyguard feels trapped - how did they come to have that position? Maybe they used to be a celebrated general, someone who came up through the ranks, saw a lot of battles. A lot of real living, which they used to find glorious. But they lost people. Friends, in battles; their family, when the kingdom pulled out of an area because they deemed it a reasonable sacrifice to keep the core of the kingdom strong. These things started to sew feelings of vindictiveness in the soldier. And now, their swang song, their final post: keep this heir to the throne safe.
They have become efficient at hiding their emotions. They were always known for being the person to get the job done. But there are feelings boiling beneath that calm surface. They have kept so much inside.
Now they have a chance. There is a rebellion brewing. They stand against the injustices the bodyguard has helped perpetrate. Could they make contact? Provide knowledge from the inside? They start reaching out, carefully, quietly, taking their time. They start to build the long con.
In the meantime, this child is starting to grow up, and they are - against their will - starting to get to know them. The child is smart, a little spoiled, but with a streak of kindness that takes our bodyguard by surprise. They see the bodyguard as a person.
And now that they're growing into a young adult, the bodyguard is starting to watch them have that kindness driven out of them. Watching the burdens of rulership start to weigh them down, press out the things that made them interesting, special. They start lashing out. Their friendship - careful as it had been - starts to crack.
This would be the moment. To break the ties; to lead the rebels in. They would have the heir killed; the kingdom would be turned on its head. The bodyguard could make it happen.
Or they could help the heir be kidnapped. And... then what? They couldn't stay - for 'failing' at their duty, they would be killed. And how would they know that their charge would come to no harm? Obviously, they would go with them. Take upon themselves the duty of unprogramming this heir, hopefully making them understand. Would they? Or would they hate the bodyguard for taking them away from their life - their family, distant and twisted though they may be? Their friends, grasping as they may be? Everything they knew, even though it was built on the backs of people the kingdom used?
