Cupid's Arrows: Hotel California

Cupid's Arrows: Hotel California

Cast:

Blaze-Black-Love To Hate

Otto-Yellow-Familial Love

Sylvia-Purple-Shallow Love

Ike-Green-Objective Love

Pheobe-Blue--Platonic Love

Rowan-Red-Romantic Love

Mr. C-Cupid

The old belief is that Cupid will strike you with an arrow to make you fall in love. These days due to scientific research, we know that love is actually caused by a complex chemical reaction in the brain…

Chapter One

Bonnie met John on the subway. She dropped her phone and he picked it up for her, a classic, romantic meet-cute. No one noticed the dull pink glow emitting from the phone and certainly no one noticed one of the passengers slipping out of the open subway doors and into the nearest bathroom. It is there that we meet Rowan, right now they are dressed in black leggings and a red turtleneck, his hair piled onto his head in sandy brown curls and he is also slightly glowing…?

Rowan rubs his eyes in the mirror but as the red flakes of his eyeshadow land in the sink, more pink flakes begin tomaterialize around him until he is surrounded.

Chapter Two

Rowan appears, not in the sky but in a plane that looks a lot like it. Vast, white marble floors extend as far as the eye can see interrupted by the occasional pillared temple opening onto the vast, cloudless sky. No longer wearing his turtleneck, Rowan has swapped it for a red tank top that shows off his lean, athletic figure.

“Hi Rowan!” exclaims a sweet young girl in a blue bow and frilly blue and white dress. “Come on, Mr. C’s already celebrating his big day!”

In one of the temples, on a fold up chair sits a devilishly handsome figure with sleek white hair pulled back into a stylish man bun. He is wearing Ray-bans and gold jewelry on top of his white ski jacket. His heavy black leather high tops are propped up on the long rectangular table and he was leaning so far back in his chair that Rowan is astonished that he hasn’t tipped over.

“Look who finally showed up! The rest of you were done ages ago…” Mr. C suddenly lurches forward in his chair, staring at Rowan over the top of his sunglasses with piercing gold eyes, like a hawk. “So? What took you so long?”

“It took a while but I can safely say that another couple is in love.

“ Ok? What about kids? Or pets? What happens if one of them gets hurt?”

“All due respect Mr. C, that’s not my job, my job is to make people fall truly, madly, deeply in love with each other.”

As Cupid scoffs a voice grows

“I’d have expected you to be happier on your ‘special day’ Cupid.”

“A pleasure to see you too darling '' Mr. C retorts as he rolls his eyes and resumes his chair leaning.

“I brought the others, ' Blaze growled again.

One by one the temple fills with dazzling people who take their seats at the table: a small child wearing yellow overalls, a woman with an hourglass body in a tight purple dress, a man wearing a green and dark green checkered suit and finally the girl in blue came bounding in cheerfully and began talking to the overalled boy.

“Everyone be quite and sit down, ”Commands Mr. C in a loud, strong voice. Blaze mutters something under his breath as he leans against a pillar, picking at his black ripped jeans.

“Ah Blaze, you always were a rather pointy arrow weren’t you? You may stay standing.

Moving on, as you all know today is my ‘special day’, Valentines Day. We celebrate every year and every year I am just so disappointed in all of you. Valentine's Day is about love, so why am I not feeling more love in the world? As my arrows you are a direct representation of my power. You should all be taking your jobs much more seriously than this. That’s all, you all have more important duties than partying. Just go to your rooms. I don’t even feel like celebrating anymore.”

Chapter Three

It’s about an hour later that Rowan is sitting on his soft bed in his rather luxurious room picking over a piece of ripe melon that he hears a ‘rap-tap-tap’. As he opened his door he is surprised to see Cupid standing there.

“Hey R, can I come in?” Not waiting for an answer, he brushes past Rowan onto the bedside and moves the melon to a spot on the carpet.

“I know you’re technically done for the day but do you think you could do something for me?”

“Anything,”

“I have one more thing for you to do. These two, they should fall in love.

Rowan takes the file that Cupid is holding out to him and flicks through it. “Look I totally would, it's just… well, to be honest neither of them are straight.” Cupid does not respond how Rowan hoped he would respond which was “Oh you're absolutely right Rowan, good catch!”

Instead, Cupid scoffs and says “Don’t be silly, R. You make romance bloom all the time. Surely you can do this.”

“No, I’m sorry. Everyone has a subconscious bias in who they love. All I do is bring it to the surface. While theoretically I could force two people in love, it would just fall apart.”

“Would you do it for me though?”

Rowan breaths a deep sigh. There had been a time when he had let his crush get the better of him and anything Cupid wanted was carried out. But Rowan had to be different. He couldn’t say he wasn’t tempted by Cupid, but he also couldn’t pretend that Cecilia even wanted a relationship or that Austin could ever love her the way he loved his coworker. It wasn’t right.

“I can’t do that Mr. C, maybe ask Pheobe or Owen.” Cupid suddenly gets up and walks to the doorway.

“I’m sorry you feel that way R. Goodnight.”

Cupid slams the door and Rowan lays back in his bed feeling strangely numb. He must’ve dozed off because when he wakes up, it’s morning and the woman in the purple dress is standing in his doorway.

Chapter Four

“Rowan? Why is Cupid going to earth with his bow?

Rowan jolts upright. “Sylvia what do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said, Cupid’s going to Earth and he says it’s your fault. Why?”

But Rowan is already running out the door to scan the nearby area for Cupid. It’s very hard to spot him because with his white ski jacket, Cupid blends in perfectly with the endless white floor. Rowan runs to where he knows there is an entrance to earth and there he sees Cupid preparing to step through the golden doorway.

“Mr.C! Wait!”

“Hmm? Come to apologize darling?

Rowan uses his body to block Cupid from the door, trying in a desperate attempt to make himself heard.

“Please stop Cupid. This isn’t right.”

Cupid sneers, his voice suddenly becoming malicious and cutting. “Oh, Romance, I should have done this a long time ago, but what a fool I was.”

Cupid turns his head up as if he can’t even look at Rowan and with a careless flick of his wrist, Rowan feels a force like a charging bull slamming into him, knocking him through the doorway and onto earth.

Do any of you guys have That One Scene that you fantasize about fans making art for someday? Like you write it and you’re like this. this is an Image.

Anyway this is mine, from SOLE Project:

Matt marvels at them with the rest of the crowd. They look so good together, and powerful. The fact that Beth has just walked on water to get here reminds him just how different they are from their audience. Hans’s wings spread above her head make an iconic image that Matt knows will not be forgotten. Heck, it’ll probably be all over the Internet by the end of the day.

I haven’t done a @flashfictionfridayofficial prompt in a while, but I’ve been neck deep in SOLE work trying to finish a draft by September and

I saw this and thought “You know, I’ve never written out how Agau told Beth about her powers…”

So that’s what I did! It barely squeaks under 1,000 words at 940 but hey—that counts.

The knock on the door startles her, but she doesn’t fall off the bed, so Beth keeps sticking glow-in-the-dark stars to her ceiling.

“Come in!”

She doesn’t have to ask or look to know who it is. The scientists never knock, so it will be Connor here to accompany her to breakfast. They didn’t eat together yesterday, but yesterday was her birthday. That means she got to make her own schedule, and she never sets a start time for her birthday schedules. It’s better to wake up without an alarm, even if she never wakes up more than an hour past the usual start time anyway.

As the door opens, she sticks the final star into place and admires her work. She had thought long and hard about what she wanted her present to be this year, and the sticky stars had won out. Fifteen is a satisfying number, and she wanted to celebrate with something just as beautiful.

So she had spent hours yesterday examining every star, organizing them by size, and running through iterations of display to decide which one she wanted to put up. The last thing before going to bed last night had been to line them up in order of placement and keep her lamp on all night to charge them. She hadn’t slept well, but it’s the first day back to her studies after her birthday. There shouldn’t be anything too intense today.

“Very thorough,” a feminine voice compliments.

That isn’t Connor Millard. Beth turns to see a figure that she associates with pictures and screen displays standing in her room: Dr. Barbara Agau.

Scrambling off the bed, Beth fixes her hair and hastens to meet her. She can’t help but be conscious of her appearance in comparison to Dr. Agau, who looks even more perfect in person than she does in her photos. Her hair is slicked back and captured in a bun, her clothes are pressed and clean, and her makeup is subtle but perfect. Beth, on the other hand, abounds in tangles and wrinkles.

“I—thank you,” she says, looking up at Dr. Agau.

“I trust you are hungry enough for breakfast?”

Dr. Agau turns without waiting for her answer, and begins to leave. Beth hurries to catch up, taking the wordless walk to review the lessons she has been taught on how to engage with her superiors. They should be easy: she has practiced silence and timing and general manners on every scientist who engages with her. But she’s never had to engage with the head of Agau Laboratories. The sudden change makes her heart twist in her chest.

Familiar anxiety creeps its way through her entire body. She barely tastes her food. Dr. Agau doesn’t select anything for herself, but seems to know exactly what Beth is prescribed to eat on all non-birthday mornings, and arranges it herself. She does fill two cups of water, though, and hands them to Beth to carry to their table.

“I understand it was your birthday yesterday,” she says as they sit.

“Yeah!” Beth says with a smile.

“Yes,” Dr. Agau agrees, a random note of reproach in her voice. As Beth is trying to figure out where she went wrong, she continues, “I had hoped to discuss things with you then, but my flight was delayed.”

Beth only partially understands this explanation. She knows what a plane is, of course, but she didn’t know Dr. Agau had been riding one. Beth had thought she would be where she always assumes the doctor is: overseeing her SOLE Project from her office, one of the currently restricted areas.

“Regardless, I am back now, and eager to bring you up to date on your role in the Project.”

Beth abandons her spoon and sits up a little straighter. She knows that Dr. agau is working on saving the world, but she never knew she would have a role in it. She simply understood herself to be here, at home, while Dr. Agau worked. There was promise of understanding when she was older, but Beth never expected it to happen the day after she got older.

Dr. Agau has paused long enough that Beth decides this is one of those predetermined places for her to respond.

“What do you need me to do?”

This is the correct response, as evidenced by the way Dr. Agau smiles at her.

“Now that my work preparing the world for your arrival is sufficiently in place, I have returned here to personally oversee your work strengthening your hydrokinetic abilities.”

Beth hardly got a word of that, and it must show on her face, because Dr. Agau sets her cup down and tries again.

“You spend hours in this facility’s recreational pools. You require strict time limits on your morning showers so that you do not fall behind in your studies. You frequently use the water coolers installed in every room, the ones we had to teach you to use from a young age to preclude your constant requests for water.”

Dr. Agau doesn’t recite Beth’s behavior with judgment or shame, but neither does she sound proud. She simply lists facts, none of which Beth can deny.

“You are intrinsically linked to the water, Beth. I designed you this way, so that you would use your abilities to help me and my Project.”

Beth hears the truth behind the doctor’s words: So that you help me save the world. She still doesn’t understand how, but the idea is so exciting that she couldn’t reject the doctor’s high expectations even if she wanted to.

“How do we start?”

I’ll fry it out

We're going to play a little traveling game today. I want you to reblog this post as a means for letting your followers know that your inbox is open.

What are they going to do?

Well, they're going to give you a description of their character and you're going to tell them which of YOUR characters would get along best with them!

Roses without thorns Wings without horns Skin stained in color Still, I grow duller

I've painted a lot of glass wings, and now I want to explore all the possibilities with stained glass wings. What's your favorite type of stained glass? I love nature so anything botanical or starry would be my fav.

The 3 hours long process videos will be DMed on my Patreon on August 5th