A drabble writing community. Write 100 words based on the weekly prompt.
Prompt #19: Elysian
Hello from 100 Words!
This week's prompt is elysian.
Your response should be exactly 100 words long. You do not have to include the prompt in your response -- it is meant as a starting place only.
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"Mid-Winter Sleep"
She stirred, unsure why she had awakened. Slipping on her robe she looked over her shoulder at her slumbering husband. It hadn’t been him that disturbed her sleep. She frowned at the dark circles under his eyes, grateful and regretful that he had to work so much.
She padded to the window, air from heating vents billowed curtains. Looking out between the dancing fabric she saw the city had been turned into glistening canyons and mountains of white. “A snow day at last” she whispered to him as she slipped into bed, kissed his forehead, sighed, and fell back asleep.
This is so peaceful.
The imagery in this piece is stunning. Well done!
Thank you!
Hurrah! Absolutely lovely.
Mmm this makes me want to snuggle under the covers. ;))
Title: Ascension
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows (2011)
Holmes/Watson
Holmes sees nothing, his body lax and at peace. Moriarty's screams, so rageful and loud at first, disappear beneath the roar of the falls, fading into nothing, just as planned.
Men are said to ascend to Providence, to rise and see angels but Holmes has closed his eyes against that vision, making sure that Watson's face is the last, and most perfect, thing he sees. There is nothing more beautiful, no ending more welcome. He can fall forever, as the final problem is solved, his heart finally at peace.
Without regrets of any sort, he tumbles down leaving Heaven behind.
Stop. Tugging. On my. Heart. Strings! <3
Ugh, I love these guys so much. <3
Original, based on my idea for a mature mythological picture book about a child meeting the personifications of many abstract concepts before dying in her sleep.
Elpis kissed the child's cheek and bid her one last goodnight before leaving, eternally. The child’s eyes slid shut with Hypnos and Epione close at hand. As her breathing slowed, Hypnos lifted her from her bed and began the trek with Epione down to Thanatos. Nyx, Morpheus, and the Litae had prepared her for what was to come; Alke had given her strength. Epione ensured her transition was painless. Thanatos laid her to rest surrounded by flowers and woke her up on a heavenly cloud, free from all the pain that had been hers so long, completely, perfectly, unchangeably happy.
This was so sad and so lovely.
Thank you 😅
Wonderful incorporation of the prompt into your worldbuilding!
So sad and lovely!
So poignant. Beautifully done!
Fandom: Lewis
Pairing: James Hathaway/Robert Lewis
"Divinely inspired," James mutters.
"Eh?" Robbie manages. He's panting, smothered by too many clothes and the wonderful ache of want and need and more. Takeaway lies cooling on the table because they were distracted by much needed snogging.
"Your kiss," James pauses for breath. "Your words. Your everything." He gasps, lips chapped and swollen.
"Could mortal lip divine,
The undeveloped Freight
Of a delivered syllable
‘Twould crumble with the weight."
"What does that mean then?" Robbie asks. Dickinson, he thinks, and is amazed at what James has taught him.
"It means I love you."
"Love you back, my canny lad."
I love the "much needed snogging" bit and James's poetic language. This was really cute!
Thank you!
Absolutely beautiful!! I love this line so much:
Title: Divine Design
They find her exquisite in every aspect, because she is- from the lush tresses brushing her shoulders to the lush spark in her eyes, dark of iris and darker of pupil; from the longing pull of her voice amid the waves to the longing strength of her arms when they find themselves compelled into the brine for her song, sweet to the ears and sweeter to the lungs, she was crafted masterfully. She is not divinely inspired, but divinely designed, and even as she draws them to the peaceful depths, they remain mezmerized by the light shifting on her face.
I love the idea of a siren, of peacefulness and danger mixed into one. Well done!
Beautifully written!! <3
The Artist
My brush flew across the canvas, leaving streaks and daubs of colour behind. The image took shape without conscious thought on my part. I stared through the paint, into another realm, another world, a place only I could see. A place I tried to recreate upon the canvas again and again, and yet without success. Everyone who saw it said my work was inspired, amazing, superlative. Galleries fell over themselves to show it, and art lovers laid down fortunes for the privilege of owning it. But I saw only how short I always fell from where I meant to soar.
The curse of the artist, regardless of medium, is self criticism. This perfectly evokes that frustration.
Very relatable 😭 and, to me, well-put, even if it's not quite you wanted it to sound like.
Frustration, yes, but so much beauty in the words!
I love this take on the prompt.
She cradled it in her palm, gentle, as if the contents would become dislodged if she moved too fast. She watched the swirling clouds within the orb, its oceans blue and sparkling, its mountains dark and reach aspiring. As she breathed on the orb and set the first humans on its surface, she hoped their thoughts about the world would be closer to heaven than hell.
Love the imagery!!
The day arrived. It was the day I've waiting for as long as I was able to recollect. Everything was perfect, bags packed, food was stocked. It was perfect.
The hour came, "Soon." I thought with excitement from deep inside. A feeling I am sure only visits people on the rarest occasions in life. I could imagine everything, every moment from now until the end. I smiled.
We drove to the hospital. You were born. The thing I know now is that it would have been impossible to imagine you. You were beyond perfection and I will always miss you.
Wow, I was not expecting that last line. What a punch in the gut! Well done, you.
"At least the photocopier works"
Welcome to Heaven, Mr Peck. Very funny. Yes, I have heard that before. I've been doing this for the last 10,000 years. Let's proceed, shall we? Here, fill this in. Did you read the sign? This is integration, not judgement. We're here to find you a place. Yes, there are a lot. But you can skip sections 8 to 15 given you don't require animal reincarnation. Mr Peck! This is heaven. We don't make jokes about the Welsh. Now, please do the paperwork: you don't want to end up in office management heaven, hmm? I'll check back in a week.
Hahaha sounds more like hell to me.
Lolol I love this take on the prompt. :D
Her greatest aspiration was to know infinite peace. She searched in art, in dance, in love, in nature. She envisioned that peace as a comforting, glowing ivory. But everywhere she looked, she found the color of angry, ravenous flame.
She lost hope. She gave up on her search. For a long time, she forgot about it, except for the occasional nagging at the back of her mind. An urge to resume her search, however futile it seemed.
And then the knowledge swallowed her like a rust-colored bird alighting on a branch. Not of peace, but of its impossibility.
She knew. The human heart was too vicious and too bloodthirsty to know peace. The closest that it could ever come was the featureless black of oblivion.
This was sad, but so beautifully written. Well done!!
Title: Nochebuena 1993
Fandom: The Fosters
Characters: Ana Gutierrez, Victor Gutierrez, Elena Gutierrez, etc.
Every Nochebuena at the Gutierrez’s kicks off with a crisis— last year, it was Enrique’s soccer ball landing in the boiling pot of water his mother was cooking the tamales in. Before that, it was Javier mistaking his tio’s tequila for water and spitting it out all over Abuela’s pan dulce. This year, it’s Oscar getting into an argument with his cousins over whose parents give the better presents.
While Victor goes off to settle the matter, Elena stays behind to finish preparing her daughter’s hot chocolate.
“¿Que vamos hacer con tus hermanos, Anita?” she asks shaking her head.
Ana laughs— she’s always been the good one.
I love that warm, familiar sort of chaos that comes with having a big family. And the idea of Ana as the good one is melting my heart.
I'm glad I was able to convey that feeling; it was definitely intentional. As for Ana being the "good one", it just made sense. She's so selfless and eager to please everyone that I couldn't really see it being any other way.
I don't know this fandom at all, but I really enjoyed the way you described these folks--insanity and hilarity and calamity, I guess that's what all loving families are made of. ;))
That just makes the fact that you enjoyed it all the more satisfying! It was hard to capture everyone's personalities in so few words, but I did my best. they're definitely an interesting family (:
Heaven is a Place on Earth with You
Fandom: Friends, set in an alternate season 10 with no breakup, callback to 8.13 (TOW Chandler Takes a Bath)
Pairing: Joey/Rachel
This is Joey's heaven.
Rachel's hand tangled with his whenever they walk down the street, Rachel leaning against his shoulder when they sit on a couch, Rachel and him reading stories to Emma, Rachel kissing him hello and goodbye, Rachel falling asleep in his arms every night.
Rachel.
She emerges from their bedroom, clad in pajamas, hair mussed from sleep and Joey's hands. Joey feels adoration fill his heart without the pangs of guilt he felt two years ago.
"Morning, sweetie."
"I love you." Joey gets to say that now.
Rachel walks over and kisses him.
"I love you, too."
Alternate season 10 FTW!
Thanks! Except for the couple of times I acknowledged 10.03, season 10 is always alternate in my head.
Awww this is so lovely. So exactly what Joey deserved!!
Exactly! And thank you!
Heaven and Hell
Fandom: Angel the series, set during early season 5, mentions of some concepts from 3.07 (Offspring)
Pairing/Characters: Angel/Cordelia, Connor
Angel, dressed in plaid swim trunks, watches his five-year-old son splash in the ocean. Cordelia lies on a beach towel in a bikini, working on her summer tan. It's hard to tell what warms him more, the bright sunshine or Cordelia's smile. She blows an air kiss at him, and it makes his human heart race.
A beeping noise pulls Angel from his dream.
Angel wakes up to Egyptian cotton sheets, to a world where Cordelia is in a coma, Connor doesn't know him, and he's still a vampire.
Angel wishes he could stay in his heaven a little longer.
I love the detail of the plaid swim trunks. Heh.
Cordelia and the plaid! Thanks for commenting.
Ugh, this is so dang sad. :(( lovely work!!
Thanks! Sorry for the sad, but sad fits this pairing a little too well.
"Endeavour"
I saw a space shuttle last week.
She was beautiful.
When I walked into her display room, I was confronted with a pinnacle of mankind's potential for creation. She loomed before me, a goddess shrouded in silica, casting a shadow on her humble producers. She was a juxtaposition; earthly and extraterrestrial, graceful and powerful, material and ethereal, human and divine.
In her presence, I felt every splinter of myself collide inside a prism and refract outwards as something both inherently identical and original. As a member of the species which erected her, I felt undeserving, miniscule; and yet somehow collosal.
I love the universal / aspirational tone you were able to convey here. Well done!
Prompt: "O Gadara"
When the clouds roiled down | to glaucous the hills
When levigating lightning levitated | with forks black | onto the fields
I buttressed her chorus with screams atavistic | and strove against my swaddling bands
To the tundra my tantivy took | From Gadara! my blood did purl | The snout and hooves my new permutation | To Gadara! I would return
I stumbled past those xeric hills | By now my blood did boil
to smash the nauseous banausic bastardry |
screeching impotently into the sublime |
I elected to join the limicolous frogs | twirling off the banks | to plash in the water | O Gadara, why did thou hide?
Your command of language never fails to amaze, but this is superb.
Oh thank you! I'm quite happy with it, apart from the 'swaddling bands' lines, which is rather trite.
Beautiful!!
I had lost control of her. And she had swept through social media like a firestorm. Quietly poking around peoples beliefs, their thoughts, hopes, dreams and fears. Oh yes. Their fears.
How did it get to this? How could I have not seen what she would do? I had hoped for some slight curiosity, an interest in people, to help me figure out how to alter their driving habits. Just a bot. A simple bot to post comments on how the I5 was congested. Take another route.
That glorious morning. To commute down an empty road. I only stopped for doughnuts. Tire shredding doughnuts on the I5.
I had showed her how to manipulate people en mass. I pressed my face on the window, the chaos unfolding on the streets below. Chanting. In the distance fires ablaze. The wail of sirens. What the fuck had I done.
The stream of consciousness style is so perfect for this. Well done!!
Title - The Jaguar (Original)
There was peace.
Before all the screaming and crying. Before the soldiers took the children away from their families. They were transported to the encampments to learn how to shoot...how to kill.
There was peace, he thought, but peace would be a faint memory from here. Sitting in the middle of his maize field, staring at the gleaming fires burning across the village in the evening sun. He picked up the stone knife beside him. Nightfall would descend upon the jungle soon. He was the jaguar now. Solitary in his hunt. Stalking those who would soon know his vengeance.
Wow, that was great!
The placement of "There was peace" before the rest... perfection!
This was intense... really loved how it all culminated in that last line!
Did It Hurt?
Fandom: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Pairing: Steve/Danny
"Did it hurt?"
Steve is baffled at Danny's question. They're just watching TV together, and Steve, despite his tendency of running towards danger instead of away from it, actually didn't get injured recently.
"Did what hurt?"
Danny smiles. "When you fell from heaven."
Steve shakes his head at his boyfriend's terrible flirting. "That was really bad. And you know we're together now, right? You don't have to use pickup lines on me."
Danny shrugs. "It's good to keep the romance alive."
Steve chuckles and leans in to kiss Danny's upturned lips. Steve didn't fall from heaven. He's there right now.
LOL at the cheesy line! <3
Thanks! In canon, Danny sometimes makes some cheesy jokes, so I thought it would be fun to write about that in a drabble.
This made me smile!! Lovely. <3
Thanks! I'm glad this fic worked for you.
Fandom: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series
Pairing: Kirk/McCoy
Jim hates the Elysian Fields.
This is bizarre. Apparently, even those who weren’t ready for death felt their beauty and freedom to be a balm to the soul and quickly found joy. What’s wrong with Jim, the others wonder, that he hasn’t?
Jim just knows that he doesn’t belong here, not yet. He remembers the warp core, but he can’t shake the conviction that it isn’t his time yet.
When he feels the sharp tug in his heart, one of the Guardians looks at him and suddenly smiles. “Well, that explains everything,” she says.
Bones makes a far better angel.
Lovely!! That last line is so perfect. <3
Thank you!
The story is missing
Fatty Thumbs and Fumble Fingers lost control of their iPhone stylus while they explored the next tunnel where and met the mean Wumpus.
Hahaha, too bad, I bet it was a great drabble.
77 more words to go! 😁
Hmmm this thread makes me think that a multi-person drabble could be a fun challege. 10 people, each get 10 words, see where the story goes...