Vigilante: Prompt Fills

Christmas Special 2019!

Eli glared at the ball of yarn as if it had personally offended him.

In a way it had. Or maybe it was just Eli's total lack of skills what was truly offensive in the current situation. Whatever the case, Eli still wasn't happy. Not when he was sitting in the library, glaring at the mess he'd been working on for the better part of a week—and had restarted twice already.

The red yarn was fayed and tangled into a mess that looked more like a wavy ramen noodle than a scarf. Eli almost wanted to throw the whole thing out a window, even if the way he gripped his needles suggested something else—like a violent stabbing—was about to occur. If the situation weren't so utterly ridiculous, Eli would laugh. Fortunately, Vanessa was doing enough laughing for the both of them.

Enough so that she'd had to excuse herself to the bathroom so that they wouldn't be kicked out of the building. Against all odds, Eli could still hear her cackling away like a demented hyena. With an annoyed huff and a rush of heat to his freckled cheeks, Eli stuffed his shoddy knitting into his bag and stomped out of the library.

He ignored the disapproving look the librarian shot him. As if it was his fault Vanessa was a horrible person. Eli felt a bit better as he stepped out onto the cold. Maybe it was just because his face didn't feel as hot in the chilly wind outside.

After a second, he figured he wasn't evil enough to just abandon Vanessa. Even though he really wanted to. And so, Eli typed up a quick message to his friend and sat on the steps outside to wait.

While he waited, he couldn't help but open his bag and take one more look at the mess inside. Even reference books and sites hadn't helped him make sense of how to make anything resembling a scarf and Eli was seriously wondering how anyone even managed to make anything with yarn. Or maybe he was just that incompetent at crafts.

It explained why his mom just gave a resigned smile when he showed her the things he made in arts and crafts back in elementary.

Vanessa walked out of the library, wiping tears from her eyes. She looked at Eli and snorted. He kind of wanted to chuck a book at her.

"Aw, don't look so down. I mean, you made plenty of progress," she said, attempting to act like a proper friend. Clearly, she'd forgotten about how she'd laughed for a solid five minutes.

"You mean, like the last two times when I ended up starting over because it was a fucking mess?" Honestly, it was a wonder how Eli had managed to get worse with practice.

"So? Practice makes perfect."

"Whoever said that can go choke on a cactus." Eli would provide said cactus. He got up from the steps, hoisting up his bag, and began to head down the street and towards the bus stop.

"Well, you still have time," Vanessa said as she walked alongside Eli, apparently ready to admit that he was that terrible. "You know, it's times like these when we should be grateful we have no classes. Now you can spend as long as you want putting love into every stitch of that scarf."

Eli didn't know about love, but there was probably some blood in there from all the times he'd stabbed his hand.

"You know, I've been thinking, maybe a nice watch would be a good present. Or a tablet. Or anything that won't bring everlasting shame upon my name."

"Jesus Christ, you're a drama queen." Vanessa's lips twitched as she struggled to keep from laughing. "And no, I think this would make a much better present. And I'm not just saying that because I find the whole thing a weird mix of adorable as hell and hilarious as shit, but also because I think it's uncharacteristically sweet of you."