Tuesday 9 July 2019

DwarvElf - Chapter 6 - Four ways

Dwarvelf Continued - previous Chapters
Opening the door, Bob stepped into the Inn.  The noise of the place surprising him. From the outside, he had a hint that it was busy, yet nothing prepared him for what he encountered.  It was close to standing room only.
Feather and Wolf pushed past him, apologising briefly for their apparent rudeness. The twins moved as one towards the bar, not acknowledging anyone, the crowd consciously and unconsciously parting as they passed, closing quickly behind them with only a few lingering glances.
'Can you see them? There, over to the left of the fireplace.' As Durog both asked and stated he placed a firm hand upon Bobmadik's shoulder to guide him towards Taesha and Aelen who he could now see sitting at a small table with two empty chairs.
The crowd in the Inn was a mix of travellers and locals, although the former most definitely outnumbers the latter. The locals sat at there tables, all dressed in simple britches and shirts.  Solid leather boots, all of the same style.  It was clear that they had all the same tailor and cobbler.
Taesha sat scanning the room, watching the watchers; it was apparent that Aelen was the only elf in the room and a child at that. Both Durog and Bob looked at each other realising their error; they would have been better to have bypassed the Inn, especially such a recognisable group, three adult dwarves and a child elf.
Aelen was sitting close to his mother on the bench, Bobmadik instinctively moved onto the same bench seat, squashing his son between his parents, hiding him that little bit more.  Aelen unaccustomed to crowds did not complain, he simply rested a hand on his father's leg and leaned into his mother.
Durog sitting opposite them spoke first 'How'd you be laddy? Taesha?'
'We're good, we waited a long while before we ordered some food, we ordered enough for the four of us.'
    'Well, that will not be enough, Lady Dwarf.' Announced Wolf as he swung a chair to the end of the table and his sister nimbly sat down onto the bench seat next to Durog.
   Aelen, leaned into his mother, holding her tight. Taesha for all her surprise at the sudden intrusion did not show it, he sat calmly and put her right arm protectively around her son looking first at Durog opposite her and then her husband, both of whom did not look at ease at all.
    'Taesha, meet Feather and Wolf, they helped us out on the road.' It was Bobmadik who spoke as he took one of the ale mugs offered by Feather. 'They're old Acquaintances of Durog the Drow Slayer.'
    'Quiet Lad, I'd rather remain incognito as long as I can. Although I can see by the faces on the locals that this would be hard, three dwarves, two human rangers and a boy elf aren't quite understated enough for me. Let's all simply eat our food and get going again.' Durog lifting the cup of ale Wolf had given him to his mouth while scanning the room for danger.
    Feather leant forward and gestured for Bob, and Durog to lean in. Wolf sat-up right, seemingly ignoring everything going on, the conversation forming in front of him, and the crowd milling about, now less attentive. Although the occasional glance revealed, the crowd was conscious of their presence.
    'So I must ask Durog; what is the story to this little party? I'm surprised to see you away from Dalia and Olin.' 
    It was apparent to Bobmadik that Feather and durog were not mere acquaintances; if Feather knew of Dalia and Olin, it meant that she was a close confidant, someone who Durog trusted, had even supped with in the past and hosted at his homestead.
    'All I will say is the young lad here is attracting a wee bit of attention these days, and his parents felt it best to go back to their brethren to learn some more, and you; what has brought you to the four ways?'
    'Those goblins we encountered.'
    'Goblins!' Taesha interrupted, 'Goblins?'
    'Shhh quiet Taesh, I'll explain when we are away from here, and on the road, it is not for a crowded Inn.' Bobmadik whispered as he squeezed her hand for comfort.
    Feather continued, 'We'd been out running the boundary and found this lot camping at the edges of our forest.  No harm some would say, Goblins are creatures of the world, and as they were causing no trouble, we decided to leave them, to simply watch and make sure they moved on. 
    The only challenge to this, though was after three days of staying still, something unusual in itself things became even more strange. A Drow walked into their campsite unchallenged, in fact, greeted.'
    'A Drow, you don't say.' It was Durog who interrupted this time. 'Dare I ask was she wearing the black of the queen's guard?'
    'Yes, how is it, you know?'
    'Feather, look past the Elf.' Wolf who had been leaning back in his chair looking as disengaged as possible had tipped forward into the table and nodded in the direction he had spoken. 'There, alone in the corner, is that the rogue?'
    Just at that moment, the Barkeep arrived with one of the serving maids carrying a wooden platter covered with food. 'Evening my friends please enjoy. Can I get you another ale milk for the young one?'
    'Yes, drinks all round please Thwayne.' 
    The keep realising someone knew him looked to the stranger who had spoken, giving Durog a barely perceptible nod 'As you wish sir.'
    'Wolf, he is leaving, follow him, see where he is going, we will meet you on the road North. The rest of you, eat up, don't rush, let's keep our cool.' it was Feather who spoke.
    Wolf stood to leave 'Bring me something to eat.'
    'I will brother now go.'
    'What is going on?' Taesha whispered, there was so much she did not know; things were moving awfully fast only hours ago they'd sat to lunch, Aelen got a knife, then goblins, two rangers now a rogue; Taesha was struggling to keep her calm.
    'I am not sure there are too many coincidences going on here. Thwayne recognised me, yet did not bring attention to us, it tells me something's up. I'm going to go help Thwayne those drinks.'
    Now with four sitting at the table, they began to eat.  All discussion falling silent, leaving questions to be answered later. After each of them had eaten their share of the meal, two leather clothes were retrieved from their satchel's. Feather placing two roughly cut pieces of bread, cheese and some warm mutton into one for her brother. 
    Bobmadik hastily did the same for Durog, pulling the four corners of the cloth together to form a neatly tied bundle. Just as they had all finished, Durog returned without the drinks. 
'OK time for us to depart we are marked. It appears your rogue friend is asking about us and paying for information, let's go, let's get out of here.'
The five of them gathered themselves and started to move through the Inn in single file; Durog leading the way followed by Taesha who held Aelen's hand, then Bobmadik immediately behind his son with Feather following last. As they moved through the room the way was clear, the patrons stepping aside to let this little party exit.
Once outside they were greeted by Thwayne holding Apples lead rope. 'I've topped up the water bottles on your horse. I've had all the windows shuttered and will personally make sure no one watches which way you go, godspeed to you and good luck.'
Durog thanked Thwayne, Bob again wondering that little more about his friend Durog who seemed to have a stature that far exceeded the dwarf he had come to know and love.
'Right then, let's go. Aelen lad, I want you to run for a bit then we'll put you on the horse.'
Taesha protested' Durog, again he is only a child, why not put him on the horse now.' 
'Taesha, it is good for him, it will build his strength. We need to do this now while we have the luxury of a horse, and the boy needs to grow into a man fast. What, with all the attention he is drawing, I am sure he will not be a boy for much longer.'
Aelen for his part did not whinge of flinch at what the exchange between his mother and uncle, shoulders back and chest slightly out 'Which way, Uncle?'
'North lad, you'll run in the middle with your mother, Feather leads the way.'
Without a word said, Feather moved forward at a jog, at first running at her usual pace then dropping back a little to accommodate the speed of the party. Both Aelen and his mother ran next to each other, not talking followed by Bobmadik leading Apples at a slow trot and Durog coming up the rear.
After a few minutes Durog ran forward next to Durog, 'we'll put the boy on the horse in five minutes, he is running well.'
'Why are we going North, Dalgroth is on the Western road.'
'I know, obviously, Feather knew something was up when she sent her brother to follow the rogue, by running north, if anyone from the Inn were watching they would think we were heading towards the Targrath.'
Durog stopped to let Bobmadik and apples go forward, scanning the road behind them. Everyone continued on at the same steady pace. Aelen quietly impressing them all with his endurance at such a young age.
After several more minutes, Bobmadik called a halt to the run as he had noticed that Aelen had started to flag, to more shuffle than run at the pace he had been.
'Well done lad, time to get on the horse.'  
Aelen did not protest in the slightest.
    Just as they turned to resume their run, Wolf stepped up on to the road in front of them. 'Hi, di Ho travellers.'
    'Well met brother.'
    'The rogue headed west.  I followed him for a league or so. He was on foot and in a rush, although not overly fast as he had a full pack of supplies, he got it from the stables as he was leaving.'
 Why would he do that?  Why west?' asked Feather.
'He is going to Dalgroth, that is the direction of Dalgroth. That is if he knew where we are going.' It was Bobmadik this time, looking towards Durog for confirmation of what he had just said.
Durog with a look of puzzlement on his face asked Wolf 'How would he know where we are going?'
'To be honest, he probably doesn't, he will probably stop somewhere up the road and wait, if we do not pass by the morning he would return to the Inn and find out if one of his Informers could tell him which way we went.'
'OK, Wolf; Feather. You're the locals, what do you propose? We need to head west. It was your suggestion that bought us North. You must have had something in mind.' It was Bobmadik who spoke now, as it had been bothering ever since Feather had told her brother to meet in the North.  How was it possible that she knew they were heading west, could she be trusted.
'We are going to go west my friend, in about two leagues there is a forest path that heads west then south-west and joins back onto the western road. Past where I suspect the rogue will set up his lookout.  We will have to travel through the night.  By doing this, we will both be in front of the rogue, and potentially if anyone saw us leave, he will be sent on a hunt up the northern path.'
'OK let's go.' with nothing more to add to the exchange Taesha started to pull Apples forward.
Bobmadik watched as Taesha moved forward, looking towards the girl ranger he asked 'Feather, how did you know we were heading to Dalgroth? What caused you to think of running this diversion? We only met this evening, and twice you've saved us, first with the Goblin attack, and now leading us from the Inn safely. How do we know you are not leading us away for your own purposes, maybe trade with the Drow?'
'Now wait a moment little Dwarf, you accusing me and my sister of being Dodgy?' Wolf's hand going to the pommel of one of his swords.
'Wait, Brother, these are fair questions. First my friend Bobmadik, you are three Dwarves travelling with a child Elf, and from what I can see that Drow who met with them had obviously sent them after you. It's only logical you'd be seeking the safety of your own kind.
Second, to that you are travelling with Durog the Drow Slayer, it's evident as he is from the Dwarven City of Dalgroth that you would be too hence heading west.
And finally trade with a Drow, I doubt it, They are unlike their Elven brethren who share the forests with us, the rangers of the North. The Drow are dark creatures, keeping league with demons and devils of the underworld, not our crowd. It's obvious they are after the child for some perverse reason.'
'Come Bob and Taesha, I can vouch for the twins they are Falconbred, part of the longest-running and wisest ranger families in the North.  They are my friends you can trust them.'

Thursday 6 June 2019

A Random Note - Post May

There is this fellow Shane Kocyczan (vid below) who is a writer and 'Spoken Word' artist.  I like his style, so therefore I've attempted to emulate it a few times here on this blog.  The below video is one of my favourites, the actual 'Spoken word' starts at around 6:20 the whole 12 minutes is interesting.

Enjoy


Here are my attempts at poetry, some spoken word, others not.
oh and a filler poem, maybe a cheat as I worked my way through my first writing month of may 2017

Friday 31 May 2019

Day 31 - Month of May summed up today

Today’s Prompt
About a Writer
I think I’ll do a list
of
31 days in May

Day 30 - Black Stigmata

It felt great, the smoothness, the shine; it was hard to decide what was most bewildering was it the weight or the blackness. 
For something the size and shape of a large goose egg, it felt feather lite, yet felt more substantial than anything around her. The shade of it was absorbing, unlike other blacks, some that reflect light this one did not; as shiny as it was, looking at it in the palm of her hand was like looking into bloodless, black stigmata.  It was mystical, it was so out of place. 
Here in the high country, the landscape was harsh and lush. Severe in that the eucalypts and scrub that had to grow in the rocky terrain. Scrub that constantly scratches you as you push through. Luxurious in that when you hit the open plains, the trees and shrubs give away to open expanses of native grass. 
Not anywhere in the three days of travelling had she seen or felt anything like this.  The Australian bush, like the insects and reptiles, was hard, rough and prickly. Always grabbing at your clothes, scratching and tearing your skin, the ground undulating trying to trip you, be it light sinewy sticks or hard rough granite trying to trip you to tear at your legs as you fall.
It was everything she could do to tear her eyes away from it, realising that the day was getting on she dropped it into her scroggin bag hanging from the waistband of her backpack. She knew she had another hour to walk to get to camp, best keep going, she could always look later.

Day 29 - Attention (read it out loud)

Attention, that’s what it is all about
every moment of the day it gets pulled about
each and every way distraction an illusive satisfaction
drawn astray we are never dismayed 
at how the news of today fades away
different every morning causing us to stray
never focus on the terror of the previous day
It’s as if we are in a self-induced coma
paralysed by overstimulation
stimulation that’s like defibrillation
rattling your brain and making you insane
What’s really odd though for some of us
as much as our attention wanes
we spend our days developing ways
To steal others attention away.
ways to nudge and coerce
to compete and disperse
to distract in every way
for attention is something to be commoditised 
to be stolen away every single day
Whole industries are geared to it, to draw us in
to nudge and ping to try to satiate everything
yet our attention is so stretched 
there is only stress our brains are buzzing
constantly scrubbing memories 
of events from day to day.
this loss of focus and attention demand
is resulting in the demise of the modern man
our attention is taken by these little devices
Devices that promise something more
yet make us so poor
they paint pictures of everything, 
utopia’s, dystopia’s and more
how strange it is to watch zombies eat brains
if we could see ourselves from the outside in
we’d see that attention aside
we are the zombies on the inside

Thursday 30 May 2019

Day 28 - Back to school, continued

One Day left and I am three stories down.  Today's is a continuation of Day 12 
---
The next day Jelex was up bright and early, she wanted to give Mr Bumchin one more go.  See if she could lure him out with his favourite honey on toast and then negotiate with him to come to school and meet with the other Bumchin's.
After eating her breakfast, making her lunch and waiting for her dad to be distracted by work emails, Jelex asked 'Dad, can I go on my iPad'.

Tuesday 28 May 2019

Day 27 - Beggar


He had seen her before; flitting among the people sitting eating their lunch in the food court. She would walk up to a table of diners, place a card on it, then walk away to another table and do the same. Then another, and another, then she’d return to the first table in the hope they would give her money.
He was always curious as to what was written on the note. She never spoke, if someone gave money, she would thank them palms together as if praying and give the generous person a small nod, monk-like.

Monday 27 May 2019

Day 26 - Pop-up privacy


The unregistered laid out her wares on a six by six blue canvas. There were rubber masks, trench coats with and without shoulder pads, shoes with 4-inch heels, wigs, glasses; a veritable array of items used to disguise or distort.
Of most interest on the canvas were the new headbands. These circles that an individual wears above their eyebrows projects a digital distortion feed, preventing the facial recognition technology to identify and track a person's movement.

Day 25 - Eunuch



'Wait a moment please' Rebecca pressed the earpiece into her ear.

'Sorry, can you repeat that?'
'Apologies everyone, I am being told we have some breaking news.'
The screen to Rebecca's left lit up with a picture of the President superimposed on an executive order.

Sunday 26 May 2019

Day 24 - Soapbox aspirations


'Nice Hotdog, Mick?' Said John muffling through the last of his hotdog.
'That's nothing compared to what I am about to show you.'
'No seriously, best hotdog ever. I say that every time I come here.'
'Ok, let's get going.' Mick had a level of concern for what he was about to do. He figured it would be entertaining, he was simply unsure if John was in the right frame of mind.

Day 23 - Flesh


A memory was triggered today.
The three men walked out from behind the Ambulance. The first dressed in his Ambo's uniform; the other two casually dressed carrying a large tray. It was the tray that caught my attention.
A box really. It was a metre square, and maybe 4 inches deep, clear cellophane covering the contents. The contents, flesh coloured body parts separated by green leaves.
The leaves as my memory would have it looked floral, sort of like you'd see on a burial casket.  I knew these things because I was an altar boy.

Wednesday 22 May 2019

Day 22 - Couch Fury

Story a day challenge 'One Sided Dialogue'
Last year’s version - http://afstoryaday.blogspot.com/2018/05/day-17-couch-potato.html This year built on it a bit.
===
‘WHAT!!!’
 ‘AAAAH!’  
‘This is bullshit, who wrote this crap!’
‘Brrrr, Brrrr; Brrrr, Brrrr - You have reached the voicemail of Dinga Bell.’
‘Dinga, bloody answering machine, how can I get your bloody answering machine. Did you watch the GoT, no that’s right you’re out on a date.  A date that took more priority over the GoT. Well anyway either delete the message now else you’ll get spoiler.  Right the Spoiler! Cersei got killed by a rock. A ROCK!!  That’s bloody insane, why the hell have I over invested in this show? Eight years. EIGHT YEARS! Seriously mate, it’s crap, these writers have lost the plot. See you tomorrow.’
Clunk
‘AAAAAAH!’
Crack!
‘Oh bloody hell!’
+++

Tuesday 21 May 2019

Day 21 - Stickman Sam - Epistolary Story

'Ssssssss' then silence, and he existed.  Stickman Sam would be his name, and here he was, standing at the bottom left of a clean white lined page inside one of Jelex's first schoolbooks of the year.

Sam had been with Jelex since grade 1, they had been on many adventures together. Especially at the start of the year. When the books were new. New books meant opportunity. Where would Jelex's mind take him today?

Monday 20 May 2019

Day 20 - 2020

Today's writing prompt from storyaday.org was 'Write The Same Incident From Three Different Perspectives'
====

Sophia was stumped, after an announcement tone, like that of a hospital, airport and or train station interrupted the latest Taylor Swift song 'Democracy is dying' her screen switched to blue with a 'Warning!' from the government.

Sunday 19 May 2019

Day 19 - Election Day

On this surprising election day
We find the liberals have been given the right of way
The left is now bereft and left in dismay
All the polls did say, the left would get their way
Maybe, just maybe there is some good to come from this day.
The rightmost of the liberals losing their way
To and independent woman that will better lead the way
Fingers crossed my wife says
Hopefully, the political class will find their way
With the leadership of labor not in favour
Maybe, just maybe they’ll let a woman lead the way
Imagine that if you may
A government that governs instead of always being in a fray
One that might just lead the nation the correct way

NOTE - today's prompt was to write a sonnet or prose of 14 lines only.

Day 18 - Addition to the party


The cavern was massive, stalagmites and stalactites were well formed, looking like pillars randomly spread throughout, creating the illusion that they were holding up the ceiling.
The treasure was spread all over the floor, forming golden stalagmites, much more stunted and broad than their natural counterparts.  It was odd to be sitting in such a space, and not madly bagging the treasure.
Jelex knew better though, Bobmadik had been very clear that the treasure had a valid owner; an owner that he did not want to upset. From what she could work out, it had been about three days that they had been waiting. Bobmadik was adamant that the owner would turn-up soon.

Friday 17 May 2019

Day 17 - What did you tell the world today

What I did.
Who I told (deliberately or not)
Alarm went off - of course my iPhone is my alarm.
Phone went active, told Telstra & Apple
Fanatic story a dayer - logged onto afstoryaday.blogspot.com to see hits to site & comments at storyaday.org
Google, Story a Day site, apple

Thursday 16 May 2019

Day 16 - Dwarvelf Chapter 5 - FalconBred

Dwarvelf Continued - previous Chapters

FalconBred

'Where are we going, Papa?' Aelen had woken full of questions.  His quiet reserve of the previous day's flight from the kobolds a distant memory to the young Elf.
Ahead Taesha lead Apples the horse, ladened with bedrolls and food to cover the 3 days it would take to get to Dalgroth. 'We are going to my home.  We are going to meet my father.' They had been travelling for several hours, having risen before dawn and set-off on the main road west below the valley mouth. 

Wednesday 15 May 2019

Day 15 - False Memories

'We need more children.'
'We are turning them over as fast as we can, it's getting more and more difficult. The feds are starting to stitch things together.'
Malachai looked out across the city. He and Adam had agreed to meet at the Terry Road Lookout. The lookout was at the top of the rise coming out of Denistone park, a casual 17 km's as the crow flies from the Sydney CBD.
'What's their issue?'
'Think about it, we've abducted six kids over the last 12 months, two months apart each time. Then strangely, each child reappears on the other side of the city physically and for all intents and purposes mentally healthy, with the exception that they cannot quite recall what has occurred in the last twelve months.  It doesn't take a genius to string it together.'

Tuesday 14 May 2019

Day 14 - Dice Days continued - A Party Forms

This story is preceded by these three previous rolls


    Jelex woke to the sounds of the forest, birds singing in the trees. Crickets chirping in the warmth of the morning sun, flies and other small insects flying sparkling like floating diamonds in the sunrays breaking through the canopy of the forest.

Monday 13 May 2019

Day 13 - flight

This story is a follow-on from An Explanation 


Julie leant back in her chair and looked about her. It was mid-afternoon in the Mission’s Old Brewery. The few people around her were consumed in their own conversations. 
A few hipsters having a debate about the merits of the latest brew on tap, a young couple leaning back in their chairs enjoying each other’s company. The barkeep, wiping down the bar top for the hundredth time since she’d turned.
Who the hell was Pig Napper? Obviously having emailed her investigirl account, it had to be someone referred onto her by DT3. 
Shutting her laptop, she casually dropped it into her backpack, slung it over her shoulder and downed her beer before nonchalantly exiting.  That was enough time in the bar; too long in any one spot was dangerous now.

Sunday 12 May 2019

Day 12 - Back to school for the Bumchin

Today's writing prompt was 'Dialogue'. I went with that as I was a bit stuck on what to write. The below dialogue is a build upon a story I did on Day 7 of last years challenge day-7-bumchin.html

===

'Pssst! Mr Bumchin. Mr Bumchin!'
Jelex was madly searching for the Bumchin. It was baffling, how could he always be turning up when she least expected him, and now that she needed him he was nowhere to be found.  
She had already been down the back yard and lifted the tin over the tunnel cubby, thumped, scratched and dug at the earth with no luck. 
Half an hour of trying to persuade Nutmeg to go find him, everything; treats, tug-o-war, hide and seek in the backyard. Nutmeg had loved it, but the dopey dog was no help whatsoever. What was she going to do?
'Jelex! Dinner!'
'I'll be up in a minute!'
Standing still in the middle yard, the orange tree its branches sagging to the ground under the weight of the ripening fruit. The forlorn and unused clothesline she had seen him hang from while Nutmeg tried to nip his feet. It was all still, where could he be?
'Mr Bumchin, please.' her voice wavering, chin quivering, on the verge of tears. 'Please Mr Bumchin please.'
'Jelex! Dinner, I won't ask again.' 

Saturday 11 May 2019

Day 11 - Speculative Fiction Notes


OK today James Bradley author of Clade and others hosted a course on Speculative Fiction at Writing NSW today.  Excellent course.  Below are notes and exercises we went rhoguh on the day - please note I used Day 1 - Babelism as the base for this course.

Story a day - Speculative futures course.

Types: Utopia, Dystopia, post-apocalypse, slow apocalypse. (Listed a heap of books here in my notebook.)

Following are some exercises that will form/aide in the build out of the preceding story, or help inform others.

Friday 10 May 2019

Day 10 - The car exhaled

  He turned the key, pulled on the hand brake, the engine stopped. Silence. Howard sat looking out the windscreen. The bushland shrouded in a fog; a cloud so thick it was impenetrable as it reflected the morning sun.
     Opening the car door the crisp cold of a winters morning hit him full force, overpowering the warmth that had built up on the drive from home.

Thursday 9 May 2019

Day 9 - Murray-Darling



‘Fuck that mate, I am not going down there. Over.’
Jack stood atop the pumping station. Pump seven had been screaming when he came across it.  He’d had stopped all the pumps, once he had seen what was causing the issue with pump seven.

Wednesday 8 May 2019

Day 8 - Chapter 4 - Rogue


Dwarvelf Continued - previous Chapters
-----

Hector sprinted across the field. Had he stayed at the window too long? His tattered black cloak billowing behind him, he dove behind a boulder on the edge of the Forest, not far from the path that he had seen the Dwarves come down.
Gasping, lungs burning, heart thumping so loudly he was sure the Dwarf standing on the verandah would hear him.  Laying as still as he could, everything he wore, his soft leather boots, black woollen breeches and shirt moulding to his body; blending into the ground extending the shape of the boulder he lay behind.
As his breathing eased and heart rate reduced his sense of hearing slowly recovered. It was quiet; the moon had passed its zenith while he had been listening at the window. He knew though this was not the only reason that it was so quiet. It was the dwarves arrival and his flight across the valley floor that had caused all of the creatures of the night to stop and pause; waiting to see what would happen next.

Tuesday 7 May 2019

Day 7 - Introductions



A friend and colleague today asked me, where do I get my ideas from. Then promptly got crook and raced off to the doctors. So I thought I would give them something to read by pointing out the backstories on the characters from the banner.  

Monday 6 May 2019

Day 6 - Read it out loud

I forgot to say hello
You know, I became citified
Of late though I have realised
That to say hello is to be alive

Even now I walk the street
and in not quite a boom.
I do softly say it; hello or g'day
Oh and how it makes me feel

Day 6 - Lycanthrope

Stopping, the cold on his face felt different as he joined the stillness of the night. The tranquillity that only exists midwinter in the mountains. Silence born of creatures big and small huddling together; in their caves and burrows.

Breathing heavily at the exertion of what he carried, his breath drawing in and reflecting the light of the full moon. A full moon that would descend soon. He needed to move quicker, he needed to get his package inside before daylight. Before he changed.

He stood looking at her, she was beautiful. Maybe, just maybe.

---
Today's Prompt, write a 100-word story.

Sunday 5 May 2019

Day 5 - Permission

‘Where’s your dad.’
‘Stop worrying about him; let’s just hang.’
‘but you told me I need to ask him permission to date you.’
Julie blushed. Did Toby just really say they were dating.
‘Wait, how can you say that, you’ve not asked me?’
‘Of course, I haven’t, I have to ask your dad first.’
‘Let’s go find him then.’ Grabbing Toby’s hand, she dragged him into the crowd. She knew her father would be around town fete somewhere.  Jacinta would be dancing soon, maybe he was sitting at the front of the stage like normal.

Saturday 4 May 2019

Day 4 - Rory's Story Cubes continued

This was something I started earlier this year, while I was trying to get my writing mojo going again. I was using Rory's Story Cubes after doing day 1 and 2, I thought; hang a tick why don't I try and get a really short 5-day story out of this.  So with no more said, here is day 3, and obviously, just maybe I'll do 4 & 5 before the end of this month.

Dice Days 3
Garjoh wandered through the garden, the light from his lantern reflecting the silver of the olive branches, the shine of the agapanthus leaves and the sparkle of the fireflies.  The shadows cast by his lamp stretching and contracting in all directions as he wandered by.
It was his pride and joy; Prince Lukchr and Criluk had entrusted him with its upkeep. He knew he would be ever thankful for their generosity, giving a claustrophobic mountain dwarf a chance.  A chance to do something he had dreamt about his whole life underground.
Everything was in order, his celery and carrots safe from the rabbits, the orchid flowers closed for the evening, the cucumbers noisily growing; so noisily he would have to pick them in the next few days and then there was the glowing Trident, it looked beautiful.

Friday 3 May 2019

A Vignette

The heat is oppressive, as I stood from tying my shoe. I look around and cannot see Steve. He was in front of me only moments before. I call out. His voice comes back to me as clear as if he was standing next to me.

Day 3 - 10,000 or more

'10,000 lies, would you believe it? 10,000'
'What are you talking about you wally?' Mick knew it was only a matter of time, the camp had been set, dinner was made, fire alight, John sitting back, beer in hand, watching as Mick did all the work.
'Trump, he's told 10,000 lies, Colbert referred to some guy at the New York Times who is counting. Well, that was the other day anyway, so I am sure it is more than that now.'
'oh, I was wondering when it would start, you know the fire, a beer, just the two of us, how long has it been now?'
'It's the intimacy.'
'yeah, yeah. So what's the latest, I've tuned out to it; it got boring.'

Thursday 2 May 2019

Day 2 - The Guath

The challenge today was to write a story in 40 minutes, no more, no less.  I did not get to finish or did I.  Good exercise to drive some creativity.  Note I did one of these last year - Here
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Exhausted they fell to the floor. Bobmadik had extinguished the torch, smothered it with his cloak. The three of them enveloped in darkness, so dark they could not see their hands in front of their faces.
Each of them had lent their sword, seax or axe against their knee, so they knew where it was in the dark. Then, with the knowledge of their packs they had withdrawn their trail mix and sat quietly eating.
‘Dad’
‘Yes Aelen’
‘How long have we been in here?’
‘I’d say close on a day and a half.’
‘Can we sleep soon?’
‘Yes Son; Soon’
They sat in silence, each in their own thoughts. Their fatigue addled minds struggling to not mistake the darkness for sleep.