Tagged: fantasy

As I Lay Here With You

  • dark thorn stuck in the skin
  • and there he lay for eighteen months
  • It was fascinating.
  • “I mean, obviously.”
  • as I lay here with you

Kent’s Take

k-avatarAs I lay here with you, I think of him. Not just his physical aspect, warmth and solidness, but his humor and his regrets. So I wonder about your regrets. We began as colleagues, and bonded over the riddle of the dark thorn stuck in the skin of a quarantined banana. It was fascinating. We ruled out every known kind of plant that produces thorns, so in the end we failed to determine whether this one might be dangerous, or deduce anything useful about where those bananas had been. But researching it side-by-side for a year and a half was how you and I fused into a single entity. He knew it was happening. He collapsed on the sofa the first night, sobbing, and there he lay for eighteen months. One day he was gone. I hear that now he only eats bananas.”

“I mean, obviously.”

 

Jen’s Take

by jenAs I lay here with you, I am reminded of a weird, feminist retelling of Sleeping Beauty, where it was the prince who pricked his finger and fell asleep. Instead of a misadventure with a spinning wheel, the prince encountered an enchanted rose bush belonging to a witch. He made a ham-fisted attempt at plucking a bloom for his girlfriend and got jabbed. The dark thorn stuck in the skin of his index finger and he fell over, unconscious, on the garden path, and there he lay for eighteen months until he was awakened by a kiss from the valiant female gardener. It was fascinating.

“I mean, obviously.” Jacinda smiled. “That’s why you never shut up about it.”

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“I Don’t Care That You’re Married, Genevieve”

  1. by jenCharacter – cheating wife
  2. Setting – witch’s cottage
  3. Object – sequined handbag
  4. Situation – I smell smoke

“I don’t care that you’re married, Genevieve,” cried Wilhelm. “So am I, and I won’t let it keep us apart.”

The beautiful raven-haired woman behind the cauldron nodded and held out her hand, and Wilhelm handed over her gift. As she opened it, Wilhelm admired the pale green undertones in her silky complexion and the way the firelight danced in her deep black eyes. Those lovely dark orbs sparkled with delight when she saw the sequined handbag under all the layers of tissue paper. Or was it the smoke that made them glisten?

“Thank you darling, it’s lovely,” Genevieve purred. She pulled a ladle from the voluminous folds of her long black gown and scooped up some of the liquid from her bubbling vat. The fumes made Wilhelm’s head spin. Genevieve carefully poured the effervescent concoction into a vial and handed it to Wilhelm.

“Have your wife drink this and our troubles will be over.”

“What about your husband?”

Genevieve smiled lazily. “Let me worry about him.”

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The Large, Leather-Bound Collection

  • by jenPoe was teetering
  • old man made an alarming sound
  • sought after by alchemists
  • the thief who stole your necklace!
  • the snowbound ruins
  • frivolity of the poets

The large, leather-bound collection of works by Poe was teetering atop the tall stack of books. The old man made an alarming sound as he lunged to catch it, but the tome was too quick and instead the old man’s hands caught a grimoire sought after by alchemists the world over.

His granddaughter picked Poe up from the ground and straightened the remaining books while the old man looked through the window at the frivolity of the poets and gypsies making merry in the snowbound ruins below his tower.

“Miranda!” he cried, “I spy the thief who stole your necklace!

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Devlin du Mauvais Knew Himself to be a Very Attractive Man

  • by jenperhaps a bit long and square-jawed
  • unable to cause his larynx to make sound
  • something as mundane as a monkey reflex
  • through his half-open shirtfront
  • “Welcome, gentlemen, to Sugarloaf Mountain.”
  • next thing you’ll be hearing church bells
  • with their passionate tornadoes of paper

Devlin du Mauvais knew himself to be a very attractive man, even if his hair was perhaps a bit long. And square-jawed masculinity never went out of style, he knew, but it did nothing to explain his skill as a black magician.

Devin’s sister Minerva grasped the throat of the dead man on the table, but no matter how hard she squeezed, she was unable to cause his larynx to make sound.

“Why does this carcass defy me!?” she demanded. “He should at least possess something as mundane as a monkey reflex, not just lay there inertly.”

“Sister, dear, calm down, or the next thing you’ll be hearing church bells ringing through your nerves and the men in white, with their passionate tornadoes of paperwork, will take you away again.”

Minerva took a deep breath, then she smiled seductively and tweaked Devlin’s nipple through his half-open shirtfront.

As they kissed, she ran her hand down to his erection and cooed, “Welcome, gentlemen, to Sugarloaf Mountain.”

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“Abigail! Bad Dog!”

  • k-avatarthe seven battalions of the Lepracaun
  • rent all her needlework asunder
  • made a merry, scornful sound
  • the princess’s spaniel
  • “Hop! Hop!” he cried

“Abigail! Bad dog!” exclaimed Princess Flamisham after Abigail, the princess’s spaniel, made a merry, scornful sound and rent all her needlework asunder.

But soon the princess marveled at her pet’s alertness, for revealed beneath the ruined coverlet were the tiny General Shamrock and the seven battalions of the Lepracaun.

“Good dog, Abigail! Sic ’em!”

Shamrock issued commands in a frenzy, hoping to avoid a total massacre. “Hop! Hop!” he cried.

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I Received a Visit From My Nephew Today

  • k-avatarheavy in his breast pocket
  • Yours sincerely, Gordon K.
  • tracks leading off into the blinding snow
  • an industry catering to “needs”
  • like pumpernickel bread
  • with a lip-smacking sigh
  • a band of earnest, friendly gnomes

I received a visit from my nephew today, a band of earnest, friendly gnomes heavy in his breast pocket. He wished to discuss a business loan, which is the reason for this letter. He would tell me little of his scheme, except that it is an industry catering to “needs.” He spoke these words with a lip-smacking sigh, his close-cropped dark hair, like pumpernickel bread, betraying the tingle in his scalp.

Eventually I had to send him away. I can still see his tracks leading off into the blinding snow.

I would greatly appreciate if you could spare a moment to apply your prodigious knowledge of gnomes, and their needs, to the question of my nephew’s scheme’s viability.

Yours sincerely, Gordon K.

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Sacre Coeur Was Yet Another Cathedral

  • k-avatarpuffed up like a toad
  • no mere statue
  • You had two. They were thick
  • “Stand back, you imbecile!”
  • the 200 year brawl
  • yet another cathedral

Sacre Coeur was yet another cathedral trammeled in the 200 year brawl between transubstantiationalist rebels and the materialist establishment.

“Stand back, you imbecile!” bellowed Mordecai, chief pyrotechnician of the rebellion. “Out of the way so I can take down that minotaur.”

You had two. They were thick. It’s my turn,” groused Stephanie, a talented psionic.

Both were struck speechless when the icon St Gridiron, which it seemed was no mere statue, puffed up like a toad.

“But this would be blasphemy to the materialists!” cried Mordecai.

In a grating voice St Gridiron explained, “They have formed an alliance with the couch-potato legions.”

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Victoria Hesitated

  • by jenhesitated
  • lights
  • lived
  • isolated

Victoria hesitated, staring across the water at the flickering lights. It really wasn’t her place to get involved. She knew she should just ignore the phenomenon and hurry home before her parents got worried. But there was something intriguing about the lights out on the isolated island where nobody lived. What would an extra few minutes matter?

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“Just Climb Over!”

  • k-avatarmoonless
  • collecting
  • snag
  • climb over!

“Just climb over!

Trudy gave up fumbling with the latch and heaved herself over the gate. She felt her pocket snag, felt her bomber jacket become a trap, stranding her with one knee hooked over the top of the iron barricade and one foot waving uselessly a few inches from the ground where Emily crouched. The dogs were getting closer.

Collecting mushrooms in their familiar woods on a moonless October night, they had discovered, inexplicably, an ancient wrought-iron fence had separated them.

Trudy slipped one arm free of her coat and dropped beside Emily. She reached through the bars to extricate her pocket and heard a low growl.

Which side of the fence were the dogs on?

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“There You Are”

  1. Character – tooth fairy
  2. Setting – gazebo
  3. Object – bagpipes
  4. Situation – suicidal tendencies

“There you are. Why’d you run off?”

“I can’t go on. You don’t understand.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I have a bottle of nightshade. Go away.”

“You can’t mean to –”

“Go! You sellout! What do you know?”

Lucky bit back his reply. The cereal contract made some of the traditionalists, like Toothy, look down on him. Sharp words would only worsen this situation.

“Maybe you just need a vacation. A couple of us could stand in for you for a bit.”

“Just go away. Leave my dignity.” The Tooth Fairy stood dramatically in the gazebo. But Lucky knew she was serious.

While they’d argued, a dozed kilted men had lined up in the park and were now filling their bagpipes.

Toothy eyed her bottle. “No more teeth.”

The pipers began Amazing Grace.

Great, thought Lucky, that’ll help.

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