X-post of last week's prompt, posted by philomytha:

Continuing with the reproduction theme, this week's prompt is inheritance. Lots of ways to use that, whether biologically (what does Gregor think he inherits from his father?), legally (Miles and his radioactive farmland? Iselle and the throne of Chalion?) or any other way that strikes your imagination.

And this week's:

Continuing on the theme of reproduction and family, this week's prompt is parent(s). Could be impending parenthood, decisions about parenthood, struggles with one's parents, and any definition of parent that fits. For example, I think Cordelia says that by some Betan interpretations, Miles could be considered Mark's parent, something I imagine would horrify them both. Or what are the repercussions if Fawn and Dag have a child together? What are the dynamics of the Lakewalker triad with their offspring? What does Iselle's heir think of his/her parents? Or what challenges does a single parent face in Chalion?

Fics of all lengths are welcome, as is art of any kind. And if this prompt doesn't grab you, past prompts are always available for potential inspiration as well.

And if you'd like to volunteer to be part of the prompt-posting rotation, please do! The more who volunteer, the less often each person's turn will come up.

As philomytha pointed out over on LJ, LMB often deals with reproductive themes. Given that it's the beginning of the year, often represented as an infant, this seems like a good time to play with those themes a bit.

This week's prompt, then, is birth. Could be literal birth, could be more metaphorical. Fic of all lengths and art are welcome. And, if this doesn't spark your muse, past prompts are always available for potential inspiration as well.

Also, so far there's just philomytha volunteering to help rotate the prompt postings. Anybody else care to help out? The more who volunteer, the less often your turn will come up. :-)

Miles is always under stress, whether he's being the Admiral or the Auditor. Gregor's always under stress. Cazaril's life appears to be the definition of stress, as does Dag and Fawn's. So, in honor of these poor characters and all they go through, this week's prompt is stress. Could be them under stress, cracking from stress, or seeking stress relief.

Past prompts are, as always, available for inspiration as well, either on their own or in combination with the current one. Fics of all lengths and art of all types are welcome!

Happy creating!

I apologize for my sporadic flakiness. Clearly, this semester is eating holes in my brain and I need a portable prosthetic memory like Simon's!

We had one post on our LJ comm last week:

Title: Justice
Author: philomytha
Word Count: 250
Rating: G, Gen
Prompt: mothers
Summary: Harra decides to act

This week's prompt is laughter. Go anywhere you like with it, from something funny and fluffy to someone laughing because otherwise they'll scream.

Fics of all length and art of any type is welcome, and past prompts are always available if you're looking for further inspiration.

Aaand I missed last week entirely. Sorry!

This week's prompt is sports. We know there's cross-ball, at least, in the Vorkosiverse, and surely the Chalionese, Ibrans, Lakewalkers, and Farmers have sports of some kind as well. What are those sports like, and do our favorite characters love them, hate them, watch them, or play them?

Fics of all length and art of any type is welcome, and past prompts are always available if you're looking for further inspiration.

We had one response on LJ to last week's prompt of "study."

Title: Growing Up
Author: glishara
Word Count: 1550
Rating: PG, Gen
Summary: Nikolai doesn't always fit in at Vorkosigan House

This week's challenge is "honor." Fics of all lengths as well as art are welcome. And if this prompt doesn't do it for you, past prompts are always available for inspiration as well.

This week's challenge is also my excuse for forgetting that I was to get things going again this past Sunday*: study. Could be Miles and/or Ivan studying at the Academy, Umegat studying the ways and teachings of the Bastard, or Fawn studying a problem. Or, of course, any other take you might have on "study" as a prompt.

Fic of all lengths as well as art are welcome. And if this prompt doesn't inspire you, past prompts are always up for use as well.

*Looking at the hiatus announcement post, I see that I'd said prompts would resume on 8/24. At some point, in my head, that turned into the Sunday after Labor Day. Oops. Guess I'm a bit later than I'd thought!

Thanks to philomytha for the theme we've been using the past few weeks and for Untrammelled Judgement, a missing scene from Mirror Dance for the argument prompt.

This comm is going to take a hiatus for the next few weeks, so you can all turn your energies to the manymany wonderful prompts for the bujold_fic ficathon. You can still submit prompts there today, and sahiya will have a table organizing them tomorrow.

Weekly prompts here will return on Sunday, August 24. Have fun, and happy creating!

This week's prompt is confession. Lots of room for the awkward and angsty there! I'm just reading Passage, and I see there's a certain young patroller who's been sentenced to go confess to some enormous stupidity, for just one example of a "missing scene" that would fit this prompt.

As always, fics of any length are welcome, as are art and icons. And if you don't find this prompt inspirational, past prompts are always available as well.

Also, if you have any prompt ideas for this summer's ficathon, head on over and post them on the LJ bujold_fic comm!

This week's talking prompt is negotiation. As always, fics of any length are welcome, as are art and icons. And if you don't find this prompt inspirational, past prompts are always available as well.

Thanks to philomytha for the suggestion to do a "talking" theme. And the first of the prompts for that theme is "argument." You can have characters arguing, trying to stave off an argument, reflecting on an argument that already happened, whatever takes your fancy.

As always, fics of all length are welcome, as are art and icons. And if you don't find this prompt inspirational, past prompts are always available as well.

Sorry for being late!

I didn't think up a theme for June, and nobody suggested any, so for this week, at any rate, I tried a bit of bibliomancy: opened up the dictionary and went for the first word I saw. Thus, this week's prompt is "orthopter."

Yeah, that's what I said. WTF is an orthopter? Fortunately, the dictionary comes with these handy definitions: one of an order of insects including cockroaches, grasshoppers, and locusts. So, erm, presumably also butter bugs? LOL

As always, fics of all length are welcome, as are art and icons. And if you don't find vomit bugs this prompt inspirational, past prompts are always available as well.

The challenge for this week is to take any scene in the Vorkosigan, Chalion, or Sharing Knife books and write it from another character's POV. Could be a character who is in the scene or another character being told about it, whatever strikes your fancy. The key is to figure out how it all looks through somebody else's eyes.

You know the drill: fics of all length are welcome, as are art and icons, though I imagine this prompt doesn't lend itself much there. And if you don't find this prompt inspirational, past prompts are always available as well.

Wow, I completely flaked last week. I am so sorry! I guess I'll blame it on the end of the semester. (Hey, it's a convenient excuse. :)

Aaaaanyway, that's also my excuse for taking the easy way out this week and making the prompt mothers. Because it's Mother's Day here in the U.S. - and Happy Mother's Day to any of you who fit that description! - and there are some seriously formidable mothers in the various Bujold 'verses: Cordelia, Alys, Ekaterin, Ista. Hmm. TSK-verse mothers haven't left quite as big an impression on me, but I know they're there. So this challenge is to write something focused on any of them.

You know the drill: fics of all length are welcome, as are art and icons. And if you don't find this prompt inspirational, past prompts are always available for inspiration as well.

Another one courtesy of Quoteopia:

Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.
- Nikos Kazantzakis

Fics of all length are welcome, as are art and icons. And if you don't find this prompt inspirational, past prompts are always available for inspiration as well.

Happy creating!

This one is courtesy of Quoteopia:

He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid.
- Arthur Miller

Fics of all length are welcome, as are art and icons. And if you don't find this prompt inspirational, past prompts are always available for inspiration as well.

Happy creating!

We had one fic posted to our LJ comm and one prompt-inspired fic posted to the Bujold_fic comm on LJ this week:

Title: Snowbound Boy
Author: quietann
Rating/Warnings: PG, read between the lines
Characters: Gregor (Vorkosigan saga)
Prompt: snowstorm

Title: Bothari
Author: digiella
Character: Miles Vorkosigan
Rating: None
Prompt: hearts

This week's prompt is a poem suggested by wombathouse:

For A Woman Who Doubted the Power of Love

Didn't I say the sun would cross the sky
Like a burning stone
And, like a burnt stone, fall in the evening
To light the pathway
Of the huge red stone of the moon rising
For our eyes only?
Didn't I say the moon would fade and leave us
Pale as our faces
Here at the end of night as we lie together
Under the drifting snow?
Didn't I say all snow would turn to water,
Each drop a flower,
That the sun would rise as molten as always
In time with birdsong
By the light of our moving arms in the morning?
My love, listen and learn
Once more how I did all this by the power
Of your heart and my heart.
How could the sky and these falling star-lit leaves
Catch fire without us?

--David Wagoner

Fics of all length are welcome, as are art and icons. And if you don't find this prompt inspirational, past prompts are always available for inspiration as well.

Happy creating!

Some great suggestions came in last week for May, but there's still April to go! April's theme is going to be quote-prompts, and this week's, found via Quoteopia, seemed like a good one to start with.

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory out of desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in a forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
- TSEliot

Granted, none of the LMB 'verses are likely to have a month actually called "April," but I think (hope!) there's potential for inspiration in there.

Fics of all length are welcome, as are art and icons. And if you don't find this prompt inspirational, past prompts are always available for inspiration as well.

Happy creating!

What's spring without spring cleaning? Messy, that's what. *looks sheepishly around room* Moving right along, then, this week's prompt is "cleaning." Cleaning house, cleaning weapons, cleaning up after corruption of some kind, you get the idea. :-)

Any suggestions for next month's theme and/or any prompt suggestions?

Fics of all length are welcome, as are art and icons. And if you don't find this prompt inspirational, past prompts are always available for inspiration as well.

Happy creating!

Thank you to dame_grise for our first IJ-only post!

We also had a busy week on LJ:

Title: Messages
Author: wombathouse
Fandom: Vorkosigan
Rating: G
Prompt: Changing Time(s)

Title: Pedigree Matters
Author: quietann
Rating: none
Character: Gregor Vorbarra (Vorkosigan fandom)
Prompt: unromantic

Title: Authority
Author: philomytha
Rating/Warnings: suitable for all
Characters: Gregor (Vorkosigan fandom)
Prompt: mud

Woohoo!

This week's prompt is "new life" as in Spring is here at last! Put any spin on it you like: cryo-revival, sprouting plants, a new/fresh start in life, whatever. I'll bet you can come up with some great ideas!

Fics of all length are welcome, as are art and icons. And if you don't find this prompt inspirational, past prompts are always available for use as well.