Hey, look at me! I’m totally posting on time. (A day early, actually.) Go me! So, today’s mixed prompts are diverse. Which is a good thing. Makes one stretch the ol’ creativity muscles, yeah? Here’s the #1lineWed prompt, verbatim: MISINTERPRETED ‘Mute point.’ ‘One in the same.’ ‘Nip in the butt.’ (ie. MOOT point, One AND the same, Nip in the BUD. LOLOL). The #ThursdayThreads prompt is “He wants something.” Below is the scene the popped into being after I spent a great deal of time trying to find an “original” example of mishearing a phrase and giving up, used one of the examples, but given this scene? I think it works. Again, they’re still in the forest trekking through the Carpathian mountains on their way to Moldavia.
***
Meg huffed out a frustrated sigh as she lightly banged the back of her head against the tree she sat propped against. “He wants something.”

“He does.” Loch’s voice remained flat, his attention elsewhere.

Unable to give up, she pushed. “I’m not sure I can give it to him.”

“Why not?” The man still sounded bored.

“He’s so…so…” Meg shrugged when no words would come. How could she explain? Kin was intense. Fierce. Terrifyingly so. If she allowed, he’d overwhelm her. Take control of her. Never let her go.

Loch continued shaving small slivers off the piece of wood he held. His control of the combat knife he used fascinated her. When he didn’t speak, she added. “I don’t know what to do.”

They sat in silence for almost an hour before Loch stood. Meg glanced up at him. He handed her the small figure he’d carved—a wolf in a play bow. He walked away before she could respond.

Five minutes later, he located Kin. “Well, lad, you’ve gone and done it now.”

“Done what?”

“You’ve confused the poor girl enough. Ya better nip this in the butt, and soon.”

Kin growled. “I’m thinkin’ ya meant t’say nip it in the bud, for I’m fair certain ya wouldn’t be mentioning Meg’s very lovely ass t’me.”

“I meant what I said, man. Nip her in the butt. Mark her.”

“She has a choice in this.”

“Does she? Really?”

The penetrating look Loch pinned on him made Kin back up a step. He considered before speaking.

“The woman always has a choice.”

“Not when the bond is already there. I can all but smell it stretchin’ between the two o’ya. Go claim yer mate.”

Good advice that. Smart man, Kin decided. Just then, Duke announced the break was over. Time to hit the trail again. His claim would have to wait. He rounded up the kids he was in charge of that day and kept a wary eye on Meg as she did the same. He stood downwind of her and the acrid tang of an old-fashioned sulfur match lighting bit his nostrils. Well, she wasn’t the only one frustrated, though his was deeply rooted on the physical level.

Fate was a bloody bitch to throw his mate at him in the middle of a war zone while they were surrounded by a small herd of children. Nosy children. And that included his feckin’ teammates. They were all as bad as a mob of old biddies, all gossip and tut-tuts. Besides, he couldn’t just take her up against a tree. Or in a sleeping bag. He wanted to court her proper. Give her champagne and chocolates and silk sheets.

“Are you just going to stand there?”

He glanced down into brown eyes sparking with angry gold. Meg glowered another few seconds then pushed past him. He watched her stomp away, her hips doing the rumba in her cargo pants. He couldn’t help tilting his head to watch, fascinated.

“Loch’s right,” he said aloud. “I do need to bite that in the butt.”
****
There you have it. Writers, feel free to grab the prompts and run with one or both in your own WIPs, and feel free to share now or later. Readers, what phrase(s) have you misheard/misinterpreted?