Hello! This is my first writing related post in Lemmy, and I decided to practice writing with a fun challenge to myself and others. I wrote a scene or part of a scene, and if you want it to continue my scene or someone else's continuation, write in the replies!
If you don't know what to aim for in writing your own continuation, that's fine. Just try to keep the character voices and emotional evolution consistent. Challenge yourself to, not just tape on more prose, but make an organic continuation!
TL;DR: Jonas, feeling lonely, awkwardly asks his sister Julia for dating advice, while they're both sitting at a lake, watching the sunset. She playfully jabs at his request for "tricks", before expanding his notion of what it truly takes to find love.
I'm super curious to see where this goes! Try your hand at a continuation!
Jonas, sitting at the edge of the waterfront, takes in a deep breath, next to Julia, who is casually distracted sketching in her sketchbook. The reddish glow of sunlight refracting and bouncing on the water filters into their eyes; their muscles seem to almost melt as it does. Each line of the sketch feels easier than the last, from relaxation.
Soon, though, something seems to tug on Jonas's cool from within his mind, right now. His tail wriggles more stiffly than before. He hesitates coyly for a moment, before gathering some courage and finally parting his lips.
— Hey, sis... — He gulps, as if trying to hold back vomited words. — You should teach me some tricks or something, so I can, uhm, find a nice partner too, just like you did, or something!
His voice, smitten with a sandy lack of self-confidence, pierces through the waterfront like an interruption in reality, a cry from an invasive species, something out of place compared to the washing up of the waves and the people and dogs walking behind the duo. The surprised glance she gives back is briefly followed by a loud chuckle of hers, somehow even more piercing. He takes in a deep breathe, feeling utterly embarrassed for even daring to let that question escape his intrusive thoughts to begin with, a feeling that clearly leaks to his face in redness.
A knowing grin spreads through Julia's face, as she locks eyes with Jonas. She closes her sketchbook suddenly, with a thud!, trapping her mechanical lead within it like a Venus flytrap would its supper.
— 'Tricks'? Jonas! You... you know tricks are for training dogs, right? — she pokes, in a playful voice.
— Well, it's just—
Julia covers his mouth with a finger across his lips, which doesn't really help him feel less coy.
— Shh! I get you. Look. It sucks to be lonely, I get that. You see...
She pauses for an almost uncomfortable moment. Jonas doesn't press on or ask anything; maybe he feels like he's way overbudget already, or his face does not fit any more redness in it.
— Finding love is a funny thing — she continues, in a suddenly much softer voice. She relaxes back upright, letting the excitement of amusement wash off like the bits of exposed sand near them under the tides. — It's weird, 'cause the more effort you put into it, the less you'll get in return. You can't really see it like a job. — She grins playfully, almost like a mischievous cat about to knowingly knock a cup of coffee off of its saucer. — Or, definitely not tricks! Unless you want a 'puppy-girlfriend'!
— Yeah, yeah... — he shrugs off the joke. — Well, it just... It just looks a lot easier for you! Like, one day you run into Priscilla, you find out you like her, and then, something something magic steps, boom, you two like each other and are dating or something!
Jonas is no longer even looking in Julia's face. His gaze diverts into the glowing red horizon, which has slowly begun to settle into a civil twilight. Directed at the sea as if calling for a sea monster to his aid, he sighs in frustration. His body almost shudders in repressed energy. Feeling that, he finds a rounded rock on the bank, right next to the log on which they were watching the sunset over the Guaíba, and he begins to fidget with it between his fingers and pawpads, feeling its roundness. For a second, an impulsive thought crosses him to throw it across the lake and try to make it skip; but he scaredly pushes that thought away, switching to merely making biscuits on the rock instead.
She just watches him be himself for a moment, adjusting her vibrissa with a hand.
— That — she suddenly interjects. — You're doing the trick now. You're being yourself.
Before he knew it, she was joining a shoulder with his, as if to give him a little sustaint. But it didn't seem to soothe him very much.
— But I already do that every day! And where did that get me?
