No Kiss Blogfest

Today's the day for the

No Kiss Blogfest hosted by Frankie Writes!

Here's what Frankie said to do: 

1) Sometime between now and Jan 2, 2011 write a post about the No Kiss Blogfest to let everyone know you are participating and that they should too. Why? Because it's awesome!

2) Sign up for No Kiss Blogfest by filling in the Mr. Linky below.  Because Mr. Linky is awesome.

3)Tweet about No Kiss Blogfest, using the hash tag: #nokissblogfest because #hashtagsareawesome

4) After you've recovered from New Years Eve, write a blog sharing your Almost Kiss, No Kiss Blogfest entry (either one from your WIP, one you just wrote, one from a book, movie or tv show)and post on January 2, 2011!!!

Sorry my entry is a bit late (but it's still the 2nd!!), I drove home today from a friend's house and got stuck in the traffic jam FROM HELL. 2 1/2 hours for a 1-hour journey.

Here's my entry. I'm not going to tell you about it - I want you to read it with an open mind and then tell me what impression you got. ; )

***

Mary rubbed her hands over her tired face, wiping away the tears that escaped her eyes. They'd done it again, just as they had so many times before. They'd sent her away with some transparent excuse of an errand he'd ordered. 

He would never have sent her away, and she could not believe He knew what his so-called disciples were up to. 

Like children, she thought, they were jealous of the time he gave her, a mere woman. A widow, yes, and thus permitted into their company without great danger to her reputation, but a woman still. 

Not worthy of the secret teachings. 

"Mary," a voice called from somewhere behind her, deep and smooth. She smiled, lips parting in a broad grin almost in spite of herself. She stopped and turned, hands bunching in the fabric of her dress. He'd come to speak to her. 

Just her. 

"Mary, why are you not with the others?" he asked, laying a soft hand on her shoulder. "Come, we must go to them. They are waiting on us." 

She could see it in his eyes. He knew what they did behind his back. How could he not? He would not be who - what - he was, and not know. 

"I am here," Mary said, the very thought of tears gone from her mind. "I am always here for you, and always will be." 

His hand tightened on her shoulder, his fingers moving, almost caressing her. "Don't let it touch you, what they think, what they say," he whispered, his face very close to hers. 

She felt like she was drowning in his eyes, so full of love and knowlege and, she sometimes thought, pain. They were so close now his every breath caressed her face. Her gaze jumped down to his full lips and back to his eyes. She'd dreamed about him kissing her, and woken up with a pounding heart and a guilty mind. He was not hers to touch, though perhaps he'd welcome it, perhaps he needed it. 

Now he was so close, so very close, the warmth of his body seeping across the scant space between them, warming her very heart. He smiled, then, and just barely shook his head. 

"Come, Mary, we must return or they will search for us." 

*** 

So there, almost a kiss...but not. Now tell me what you think and then off with you to read the other entries HERE.

Christmas Plot Bunny Exchange

This December my Powered By Plot Bunny friends and I decided to do a little 250-word drabble Christmas Plot Bunny exchange. Each of us provided 3 prompts and got assigned three in turn. The task: include some/all of said prompts/plot elements and write a 250 word story. 

My prompts:

Topic - something has been or must be hidden

Setting - a church

Character - an emo kid

If there's romance I prefer m/m thing

250 word maximum!

Here's what I came up with: 

***

“Sanctuary!”

I grunted as a slender dark-haired person crashed into me. I grabbed...his...arms to keep both of us upright, then pushed away a little so I could look at who I’d caught.

“I claim Sanctuary,” he repeated, slowly catching his breath.

Cute.

“Why?” I asked, letting my hands run up and down his arms before I let go. The most delicious chocolate-brown, kohl-lined eyes blinked up at me.

“Why?” My pretty little catch frowned. The little wrinkle between his finely drawn black eyebrows was adorable. “You’re a priest, this is a church, you have to give me sanctuary.”

I chuckled and pulled him further into the room.

“Pet, have a look around. This hasn’t been a church in years.”

I watched his head swing back and forth as he studied the waiting room chairs, the bright front desk and the pictures of my work on the wall.

“You aren’t a priest!”

I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow. “I never said I was.”

He kept staring, looking me up and down as if he only really saw me now. I had quite a time hiding the shudder that rolled over me. If he saw what he was doing to my jeans, fine, but I was not letting him know how much those puppy-dog eyes made me sweat.

“No priest?” The tip of his pink tongue peeked out between his lips before he smiled. 

“Good,” he said as he stretched up to kiss me.

***

There you go, that's it.

Let me tell you, writing a story in 250 words (exactly, btw) was REALLY HARD for me. I hope I haven't cut too much for it to still make sense...
 
Hope you liked it, 


T.x

Schizophrenia, your name is Author

First of all:

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you had a great day, lots of presents and a cosy family get-together and all that. 

So, I'm sitting here at my computer today and I've obviously got too much time on my hands... You see, I've just created a Facebook Account (not page, I already had that...see sidebar) for myself in my pen name persona. 

In case you didn't realize, Tessa Conte is not in fact my real name. 

Ahem. 

Here it is: 

Author Tessa Conte | Create your badge



*shifts around in chair*

I know, I know, I'm weird. So if Tessa Conte now asks to be your friend on FB, that'll be moi. If some other strange person from Austria asks to be your friend, that's probably me, too, in my real persona.

So I'm weird, so sue me.

I guess I have too active an imagination.

Twisted Christmas Fairytale Blogfest

It's been a while since I took part in a blogfest...finally I have time for one! YAY!

This one's by Francine over at Romancing the Blog. Here's what she said about it...

So, with this blogfest, as a writer you have the opportunity to let rip with a twisted fairy tale!

How you kidnap the Seven Dwarves, turn Cinderella into a vampire, blow up Aladdin's Cave, shoot the fairy off the Christmas tree, or assassinate Santa, is entirely up to you. 

All genre catered for - preferably 700 word count, no more than 1,000 tops!

No prizes for this blogfest - it's purely for Seasonal Funtime! 

The deadline is 18th for posting up your contribution, but please allow until the 20th for replies/comments.

It's the 18th today, and I have no story yet, but I've decided to take part anyhow and just write write write... I'm not quite happy with the outcome, but since it's already late afternoon, I'm posting it anyhow.

***

Once upon a time, there was a king and queen who waited years and years to have a child. They prayed and prayed, and late in the queen’s life, they were blessed with a daughter, beautiful and fair. To celebrate their newborn Joy, a feast was given for all the people in the kingdom to join them in their happiness. Long was the list of guests, and long the high table for those closest to the king and queen’s heart. 

The feast was a success, or so they thought, because the bad news only came years later. 

Bad fairies know how to hold a grudge, you see, and dark fairy queens know it better than most. 

Which is why, Joy thought, I’m standing here in a castle full of sleeping people with an unconscious fool at my feet. 

She prodded him with her tiny slippered foot. Nothing. 

She did it again, less gently this time. Not even a groan, though she’d chosen a spot that was supposed to be particularly sensitive. 

Stupid man. Really, what sane sword-toting prince was stupid enough to prick himself on the needle of a spinning wheel? Every little girl knew better, particularly if said girl grew up in the Rose Kingdom, spoon-fed the Dark Queen’s curse with her childhood porridge. 

What an idiot. 

And now she was stuck. Right in the middle of a castle full of magically unconscious people, surrounded by a bramble thicket twenty feet wide. 

It really wasn’t funny. She kicked the unfortunate prince once more for good measure. 

Something plopped into existence right in front of her, and a tiny little man dressed all in blue, complete with blue wings, hovered amidst a rain of sparkles. He took a sip from a diminutive silver flask and banged a fist against his chest. 

“You’s the princess, right?” He burped, a tiny burp but dear gods he was loud. The princess nodded. “Right. So we’s supposed to help you.” 

“We?” the princess asked. Two more plops, two more diminutive men, one in a pink shirt and jeans, the other in an eye-poppingly bright yellow suit. 

“Oh,” the princess said, staring. Three fairies. Bright ones, yes, but a fairy was at fault for this entire mess so she wasn’t about to be fooled. She frowned at them. “What do you want?” 

“We are supposed to protect the princess because the dark queen put a curse on her and her curses are always dangerous and it was foretold that during this moon something would happen and we wanted to be here and make sure it doesn’t and...” the pink man stopped talking when he saw the prince lying at Joy’s feet. “Oh.” 

Joy rolled her eyes, stepped over the prince and walked towards the armory. There was a secret passage there. Maybe the tunnel led far enough away to pass under all those thorns. It was worth a try. If not, there were always the swords. Joy had never been allowed to touch one, but surely it couldn’t be so hard to hack at a few bushes with it? 

She took the steps two at a time on the way down. 

“WAIT!” A pink blur appeared before her, stopping her in her tracks. 

“Now what?” 

“You just have to kiss him, you know? To make them wake up?” 

Joy looked back up the stairs. “Kiss him?” She made a face. “Are you serious?” 

Three tiny heads nodded emphatically, then the blue one buzzed off. Joy thought she could hear retching from behind a flowerpot but surely that was just her imagination. 

“I kiss him then everything goes back to normal?” 

The two remaining blots of colour nodded. Joy squared her shoulders. “All right.” It was worth a try, at least. She could always go down the stairs after, if it didn’t work. 

She stopped again at the top of the stairs. “What exactly are the rules here? Do I have to kiss him or just kiss someone?” 

Pink blinked. “Ehm...it’s supposed to be about true love.” He flew closer until the wind from his wings made Joy close her eyes. “Isn’t that your true love? He’s a prince, isn’t he?” 

“He’s a fool is what he is!” Joy shouted and ran down the stairs, not to the armory but towards the guard’s barracks. Peter had just finished his shift when the prince came along. He should be there somewhere. 

She found him on his pallet at the back of the barracks, still in uniform. He must have passed out in the middle of taking off his boots. Joy threw herself onto the pallet next to him, snuggling in. Her Peter had always been perfect for snuggling. She leaned over his face, smiling down on his sleep-slack features. 

“WAIT!” 

Not again. “What is it this time?” Joy asked the tiny pink fairy, not taking her eyes off Peter. 

“If you don’t kiss a prince, nobody but the one you kiss will wake up!” 

“Perfect,” she said. They’d had to be careful, ever so careful, not to be caught. A princess, heir to her kingdom, and a common guard with little to no chance of ever becoming an officer? It just wouldn’t do. 

She leaned down and kissed her unprincely lover, the rest of the castle be damned. She’d have to remember to send the dark queen a thank you letter. 

***

I hope you liked it, now let me know what you think and then off with you to read the other entries HERE!

If you want to read another one of my twisted fairy tales, this one for a different blogfest, go HERE.