Challenge #00071: Eldritch
Use the sentence; ‘The darkness around her felt invaded, but that wasn’t new.’
Shayde slowed, listening to the pricking of her thumbs. The darkness around her felt invaded, but that was nothing new. It was a feeling usually reserved for shadow-jumping or travel Between.
But in the non-shadow world… it was something else.
Something wicked…
“I ken yer there. Out with it. What’re ye after?”
We seek… they whispered. Life.
“Ye cannae have mine. Or any close to me. Nor any close tae them and so on. This whole station’s Protected.”
We… want breath…
Ah. “Ye want tae live again?”
Yes…
“To make the better choices?”
Yes…
“To be wanted?”
YES!
The shadows around her gained shapes. Nightmares. Made from the sort of people who became nightmares. The wolf at the door. The ogre who used bones to make bread. The wicked step-parent. The cruel master.
“There’s a lab five floors up makin’ new lives,” she said. “Perfect for what ye say ye want. Repent, an’ get yerselves reborn.”
The shadows became ordinary shadows again. There was no danger of those souls coming back into a cogniscent form. The lab five floors up was making Augments for mentally disabled kids.
They would be wanted, oh yes. Wanted and loved. And kind. And useful. And making the only choices they were trained to do. To look after their child, to love their child, to guide them and feed them and make them be better.
A life of servitude, to weigh against their previous sins.
Served them right.
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Chalenge #00026: Young Love, Stay Love
quietstorm81 answered: Old couple commenting on young couple having an awkward but visably loving first date in a park
They took the ramp up to third balcony level in Big Tree Park. Poor Mal’s knees wouldn’t let him do stairs, any more.
Their usual bench was occupied by a young couple, so they took the next one. It was good to sit and watch the green things grow. And some of the things that weren’t exactly green because of their alien biology.
“Ah, they’re hanging the lanterns,” said Mal.
Bri squinted. “They are?”
Mal simply removed Bri’s glasses, cleaned them on his shirt, and put them back on.
“Oh, they are.”
They laughed. Two old farts sharing a familiar joke.
“I think it’s got a little bigger,” said Bri.
“They were hanging the lanterns when you proposed,” Mal had a dreamy smile.
Bri had to kiss it. “Action replay over on our bench.”
Mal looked. “Sweet Powers, were we ever that awkward?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t have to be so definite about it,” Mal sulked.
“I think I was twice as awkward. You weren’t doing any asking…”
Mal sighed. “All that fidgeting. Just kiss each other and be done with it.”
Bri smirked. “You took your sweet time about that, too.”
Mal shook his head. “All that fuss about how I looked and whether I was saying the right things. And how I was sitting and what I was doing with my hands…”
“Aw. There they go. ‘Of course yes’ or, 'I’ve been waiting for you to say that’ and hopefully not, 'Whadahuh?’ like you did.”
“I did find my tongue eventually. For a proper 'yes’. Just to stop you crying.”
“Difficult to track down after you swallowed it, eh?”
“Ha! And then some.”
They watched the two young cogniscents on the next bench entangle their limbs and finally kiss.
“They look like nice young men,” commented Mal.
“Ladies.”
“At the risk of repeating myself… whadahuh?”
Bri cackled. “Exobiologist, remember? I can tell.”
“Like you let me forget…” Mal laid his hand on Bri’s and their fingers intertwined. They watched the lanterns turn the giant tree into a fairy palace.
“The birdseed cart should be coming by, soon.”
“Feed the birds, two Sec’s a bag…” came the distant song of an individual who wasn’t very far removed from the birds themselves.
“Tight on time,” said Bri.
“My favourite part of our day,” smiled Mal.
Bri got two Second coins out and waved with them to the birdseed cart cogniscent, who ruffled his plumage and saluted in recognition.
They took turns throwing seeds to the birds that filled Big Tree park with song and guano while the birdseed cart trundled onwards.
“Feed the birds, two Sec’s a bag…”
One of the young couple looked up from their embrace. “How much?”
Mal and Bri looked at each other and laughed.
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Challenge #00025: Movie Madness
Rogue and Rahne, the closest the Evo cast arguably has to a vampire and werewolf, end up having to watch the latest vampire-and-werewolf-starring cinematic blockbuster - the Twilight movies, courtesy of a lost bet (likely with Kitty). Cue the mocking and snarkiness!
[This author has only seen the first Twilight movie and removed herself from the sequels as a means of self-preservation]
“So what’s this all about, then?” asked Rahne. Kitty was standing guard at the door and, for some reason, Kurt was guarding the window.
“Well… Ah don’t know much,” Rogue got her credentials out as early as possible, “but from what Ah heard, it’s… well… Some housewife saw ‘Dracula meets the Wolfman’ and wrote an AU romance starrin’ her Mary Sue.”
“Is not!” Kitty shrieked. “It’s the greatest romance like, ever!”
Kurt coughed. “(Coughistoocough).”
“Hey! I saw your stupid blue people movie! You like, owe me.”
“…they'renotstupid…” muttered Kurt.
The movie began. “Okay,” said Rahne. “Which one’t the Mary Sue?”
“Bella Swan. That’s the gal with the brown hair, there.”
They watched for a few minutes.
“Wait. So how’s she a Mary Sue?”
Rogue bought up something on her phone. “That’s the lady who wrote this mess. Next to her description of our heroine.”
“…oh.”
“Total adoration by all a the boys in five, four, three…”
“What? Since when does that happen?”
“It actually happened to Myer, Ah heard.”
“…blarg…”
Another few minutes in which more movie happened and steam escaped Kitty’s ears.
“Wait. Those are the vampires, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m gettin’ a weird stalker vibe off 'em.”
“You, me, and everyone else with a brain stem,” said Rogue.
“…hey!” objected Kitty.
“Wait. He said she should stay away from him and now he’s following her everywhere? How’s that supposed to work?”
“And he warned her that he’s dangerous. She should be bookin’ in mah opinion.”
More movie passed in stunned disbelief.
“HE SPARKLES?!”
“Real vampires don’t freakin’ sparkle.”
“What are the werewolves like?”
Rogue checked her phone. “Uh. Native Americans who are heavily into arranged marriages. From birth.”
“How many movies are there of this?”
“Five.”
Rahne thought about this whilst witnessing Bella and Edward say and do incredibly stupid things. “What was the alternative?”
“Walkin’ down main street in our underwear.”
“Turn that rubbish off. I’m doin’ the undies thing.”
“*HEY*!” Objected Kitty while Kurt cracked up.
[Want more? Submit a prompt or ask a question!]
(#00021)
“This is strictly arts and crafts, you understand?”
“Yes, Sara,” intoned Forge in the tired mien of someone who’d been through this before.
“*Just* the available materiel.”
“Yes, Sara.”
“No wibbly-wobbly jiggery-pokery.”
Sigh. “Yes Sara.”
“And no tricky little gadgets to speed up the process.”
“Yes, Sara.”
“Todd, darling, you may frisk him.”
“Man. I thought you said this would be fun,” said Forge as Toad’s clammy hands got way too personal in his space.
“I’m still living the consequences of your last episode of ‘fun’. mister Walkingbird…”
Forge winced. Names had power and his full name had the power to make him want to dig himself into a deep, deep hole until it went away. And Sara had somehow found it out.
“Shuttingupandbehavingmyself,” he managed.
“Good.” Sara’s ruffled feathers appeared to settle. Despite the fact that she didn’t actually possess feathers.
It never paid to be too metaphorical around mutants.
“This is compound A. We mix it with these ingredients in this order. This is compound B. We mix it with those ingredients in that order. Don’t mix them until we’re ready. These are lumps of clay with the precise volume of said finished compound once it is done. We do not borrow clay from anyone else’s pile.”
“Yes’m.”
“Over here on the wall is my articulation to clay volume chart. Do not remove it. You will design something horrific to pop out of a locker and *ONLY* that. Are we understood?”
“Yes’m”
*
Five hours later…
“TOLSTOY BEAUTEOUS-DAWN WALKINGBIRD!”
“I didn’t do it!”
“Prove it!”
“Do it, yo,” advised Todd. “'Fore she kills yo’.”
“I thinkIbetterrun…”
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(#00019)
It was a dark and -o god- stormy night. The bums that usually cleared out five minutes before the little tip saucer appeared on their table hung around and actually dropped change on the saucer.
Pennies, for the most part. The occasional nickel, crying because it was alone. And one ancient-looking coin and a string of cowrie shells.
Aisha freshened up the weirdo’s coffee and said, “We prefer legal tender, here.” The coin was surprisingly heavy and almost disgustingly filthy.
“That coin,” slurred the bum, “could buy this whole block. ‘Sgotmy face on it.”
“Sure it does,” smiled Aisha, subconsciously checking her avenues for escape. She had to take it, because otherwise the bum would forget the money - or in this case, filthy old junk - actually belonged to Aisha and take it back.
“It is also a powerful totem against lightning.”
_It’s a good thing we only serve coffee after hours…._ At the risk of repeating herself, she said, “Sure it is,” and scraped some of the filth off. Some really old imagery. “This is a very weird picture of… Thor? Isn’t he s'posed'a have a hammer, not a spear?”
“Thor. Ha!” Thunder punctuated their conversation, as if objecting to the outmoded blasphemy. “Thor gets all the freaking credit. Followers. Comic books. Movies. Now he’s swanning around like Fabio and more 'me me me’ than backstage at the opera. *Thor*…”
“Oh… kay. I needed a reminder why it’s never a good idea to chat with customers. Thanks for that.”
“There are older gods. Better gods. Purer gods. From the first places! We came before *any* of those simpering posers from the north. Or the east.”
None of the other bums seemed interested in rescuing her. Or calling for more coffee. Or fake-calling for more coffee in order to rescue her. _It’s official. Chivalry is dead._ “Of course there are.”
“Ancient. Like that coin. They say Croesos invented coins, because he is whiter than those who did invent them. Just like they have Thor instead of the mighty Shango!”
“Shango? My nanna used to tell me about Shango…” Aisha checked the coin again. That wasn’t a badly-rendered breastplate. Those were badly-rendered breasts. Shango the Thunder Queen. Who split the air with her spears of light.
…amongst many other unlikely things…
“Thor has all the attention. Thor has all the glory. Thor has fucking comic books… But he is only pretend, compared to the mighty Shango!” Another thunder crash.
Pops, scrubbing away at the grille, stared through the service window at Aisha, who made desperately covert bail-me-out signals.
“I used to have the adoration of thousands. Thousands!”
“Poor you,” sighed Aisha.
Pops smirked and shook his head and shrugged. Pops-sign for “I’m not doing jack until there’s a fight.”
_Thanks a bunch, Pops._
“Now, I am lucky to have a few hundred who even know my name.”
“Poor you,” sighed Aisha.
One of the bums hanging out at the bar decided that outside was starting to look better than inside.
“I have been searching for a real warrior. Someone who cn stand to fight the battle ahead. A champion among champions.”
“GreatIhopeyoufindhim.”
“Him?” The weirdo laughed, and outside, a cacophany of thunder almost obliterated the sound. “No man is equal to a woman. Especially a young woman. Not even if he knows my name.”
Weirder and weirder. “Uh. What?”
“No man alive has the magic to grow another human inside him. No man has been born who can withstand the fight to bring a life into the world. No man can bear the brunt of menses like a woman can. He is simply not strong enough. No. You, Aisha. You are the champion I seek.”
The dirty hoodie slipped open during her speech. Shango. Old and withered, but still recognisably Shango. With her hair knotted into complicated buns on either side of her head.
Nanna once told Aisha that they were for knocking sense into her allies when they argued too long.
“And so they are, when I am close to you.”
The dirty old umbrella by her side was looking less and less umbrella-like by the minute. And Shango actually looked a little more… vitalized.
“Why me?”
“Because you know me. Because there is a part of you that believes. Because you look at these pale, sad men that have been made into gods and wish that just once, they would show someone like you in a position of power.”
“…more than once would be better…” mumbled Aisha.
“How about the opportunity to be a champion… every day?”
Most of the surviving imagery flew into her head. “Uhm. I wouldn’t have to run around in a skin-tight outfit with my boobs hanging out, would I?”
“Only if that pleases you.”
“No… I think that’d get the wrong kind of attention.” Aisha lowered her voice to a whisper as she sat opposite the ancient African goddess. “Way too many men.”
The mighty Shango grinned. “I was right to choose you. You will do well.”
[Want more? Submit a prompt or ask a question!]
(#00016)
Shayde winced as she filtered the young lizard girl’s enthusiastic babbling through her own understanding.
Yikes.
This kid had the worst case of wishful listening Shayde had ever seen.
“Danny…”
“Maybe I can take you to see the storm aurora. It only happens outside the left tail section for some reason? Oh! Wait. There’s like a historical theatre thing? Sometimes they do recreation shows, sometimes they show the old-style cinema stuff? It’s totally retro-cool.”
“Danny.”
“You could tell what was new and old from when you left? That’d like, be such a help on my thesis. How storytelling developed alongside technology in the pre-shattering era.”
“Danny!”
“What?”
“This isn’t a proper date. I never said it was.”
“But you said you thought–”
Life on the other side of let-down street wasn’t as simple as she’d thought it was, ten years and a million experiences ago. Shayde strangled a ‘you’re a good kid but…’ before it could form itself on her tongue.
“I made a mistake. I assumed things based on our text chats. And you’ve been assumin’ for the past twenty minutes, based on one word.”
Danny deflated. “I… thought we were getting along…”
“Have ye never had someone desperate to tell you every last detail about something they love beyond reason, but you’re bored stiff by? And have ye never wanted to avoid breakin’ their poor heart?”
“Oh, like Lyn Wikozt. Every day she has to tell me the latest thing this singer she likes has done? And what it means to her continued existence? And she just talks and talks and you can’t tell her you don’t wanna hear… about… Oh.”
Shayde summoned a smile despite the funereal mood descending on their group. “Clever girl.”
“…'msorryiwastedyourtime…”
“Na. Don’t feel bad about it. I know, right now, that’s a wee bit like tellin’ water not to be wet…”
Half a giggle.
“The best relationships are between people with equal standing, aren’t they? They make the best kind o’ teams. That’s why Superman never really got t’ stay with Lois Lane. It’s why lots of heroes are single. Wi’ great power comes a really sucky datin’ pool.”
A genuine smile.
“The most important bit is having someone ye can talk to… and listen to. You’ll find that someone. Maybe they’ve always been there. Maybe they’re just around the next corner. But when you do find 'em… tell 'em ye had tae break my heart.”
[Want your own story? Submit a prompt or ask a question!]
Announce on the Challenge
I’m going to try spacing my prompts out to one a day, if only to give Geekhyena a break ;)
Also, it gives me more time to think about which prompt would be best to take on and it gives you (yes, you! The individual reading this) time to think up some more prompts to submit or ask me :)
Of course, I will try to do the non-fanficcy ones first, since stretching into my pet universe is a priority for me.
All prompts will be turned into a story. One day at a time.
(#00014)
“PBLTBJ.”
“Yahuh.”
“Peanut butter. Lettuce. Tomato. Bacon. And Jelly.”
“Yyyyyyup.”
“And that was because he was in too much of a hurry to make two sandwiches?”
“And we were almost out of bread at the time.”
“Euw.”
“You should try his leftover turkey fluffernutter-reese sandwich.”
“What?”
“A Reeses sandwich is peanut butter and nutella - or a nutella substitute. Fluffernutter is marshmallow fluff and peanut butter. Mix the two together and add an assortment of leftover turkey parts, and a legend is born.”
“Tell me he did not do horrible things to egg salad?”
“Egg salad, avocado, mayo, and deep fried bananas.”
“AUGH!”
“Don’t judge, my dears. The poor man has a metabolism from hades. He needs his calories en masse.”
And, almost on queue, Kurt put his head around the doorframe. “Telling horror stories, again, liebchen?”
“I like to think of it as a warning,” Sara grinned. “Late night snack collisions and all.”
“Well, if we’re swapping stories about horrible food combinations, allow me to tell you all of Sara’s Hunan Surprise…”
December 23, 2012
Some say it’s the end of the world. Some say it’s a new beginning. I like the latter. Namely, because people of all kidneys have been predicting the end of the world since time immemorial and not one of them got it right.
So. Here’s a few of my predictions for that particular day.
1) Squid-all nothing/business as usual. Yup. It’s going to be just another day when the world didn’t end.
2) Civil war between the rich and the poor. It’s growing to a head. You can almost feel the revolution coming. And it won’t be pretty.
3) The end of the civil war between the rich and the poor. In the event that the revolution starts early, this will be the day it ends. For good or ill.
4) Aliens finally arrive for reals. They demand an explanation for all the bullshit we’ve generated about them. We are generally treated how white folks treat the Native Americans [or Native Anywhere’s for that matter]. It will take some hundreds of years to reach even partial equality.
5) Commercial colonies off-planet begin. Whether the launch of the mission or the landing, or the completion of the first building, I don’t care. Some corporate-sponsored colony will commence and begin ruining the fuck out of another planet.
6) Atlantis resurfaces. Merfolk living there demand an explanation for all the bullshit we’ve generated about them. Or declare war.
7) Mutants/magic/unicorns/whatever is real and scientifically verified. People go freaking nuts.
8) Warp speed/teleportation accomplished. Civilisation as we know it is turned upside-down. Virii sweep the world in global pandemics. When the dust clears, we realise everything has changed when we weren’t looking.
9) Time travel/temporal viewing is accomplished. Thousands of arguments over who said what and when are solved. Divorce rate increases by 300%.
10) The whole world catches telepathy. The results are not pretty. Think about it.
Those are my best and worst guesses. Anyone else have predictions for 2012? I promise to share the best or most hilarious ones with some extra blather from my good self.
What say you?