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Re: Writing thing

Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 9:12 pm
by F.J. Prefect, Esq
Challenge:

2000 words

http://i.imgur.com/x8l5s2s.jpg

Re: Writing thing

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 1:34 pm
by evilsoup
43. She said, "There's three ways of getting to all the different lands. The Faraway Tree, whirlwinds, and Doctor Who's little house."

Re: Writing thing

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 4:48 pm
by Oxymoron

Re: Writing thing

Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 7:37 pm
by evilsoup
Number 13 ('engine noises')
There's always a choice wrote: ‘Just… don’t think about,’ said Billy, fiddling with his sleeve. Like he always did when a conversation got too serious. Chris shook his head, absently, looking over the edge to the working masses below.

‘How can I not think about it? All those people down there…?’

People,’ sneered Billy. ‘You wouldn’t use that word if you’d spoken to them. They’ve no culture – nothing except the turning of the wheel. They don’t even have names.’

Chris leaned over, just a little further, peering down the shaft. It was a long way down, and plumes of smoke billowed up from the chimneys – but it wasn’t the choking, thick, hiding smog Chris remembered from his childhood, three districts away. Though they were little bigger than ants he could see the workers down below, wearing nothing but coats of ash.

‘It’s not right,’ he muttered. ‘You know, their life expectancy—’

‘Of course I know. Does it matter? They’re beasts. And, besides, it’s necessary. There are those that toil, and those that think. The hands and the head.’

‘It’s not right.’

Billy sighed and closed his text book. It was a phase, he knew: one that everyone went through.

‘So, what, you want to go all Moses, then? “Let my people go”, right?’

Chris didn’t answer. Billy sighed and stood up. This was his fault, really – he shouldn’t have brought his friend outside. All it led to was pointless introspection.

‘Come on. We’re going to be late for today’s lecture.’

Chris turned his head at last.

‘What’s on today?’

‘Hrrm… Post-structuralist approaches to the homoeroticism of Sherlock Holmes and the early detective genre, I think.’

Chris’ face lit up at Billy’s words; he licked his teeth, already spinning a few arguments about audience interaction and the non-existence of ‘canon’ in preparation.

‘All right,’ he said, turning away from the balcony’s edge. ‘Let’s see what nonsense Professor Sandiman’s spreading now.’

Billy slapped Chris on the back. Now they were going to do something important, something that mattered – literary criticism. They rushed, together, back inside the gleaming white tower: today, in their small way, they would change the world.

And down below, amongst the dirt and smoke, the toilers continued to toiled.

Re: Writing thing

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 3:05 am
by Jung
Just a small thing from a worldbuilding thing I was writing, I'm just posting it here cause I like how the ending turned out so I don't want to just delete it.

----

Of course, there is additional nesting yet to go, for the Vazdigigi houses the center of the human world, the holy of holies. Before the Steel Era this would have been the Emperor’s central palace. Today, the navel of the world has moved to the World Administration Complex. There is no sacred king in the World Administration Complex, no sacred rituals are performed there, no sacred personages are housed there, no idols are kept, except perhaps a household god in a cubicle here and there – probably not many, the present inhabitants mostly have sentiments on that matter that St. Paul might have approved of. Still, this is the very center of the world. The good materialist rationalists who work here will tell you so.

You are probably chuckling at that, thinking this is a joke at the expense of people who pride themselves on being rational but who still think at a very primitive level, appropriate for a Stone Age priest-king who thinks the mound behind his village is the navel of the world. They would have a similar reaction, upon hearing that a person from advanced wealthy Earth imagines that the centrality of the Vazdigiba must be found in its relationship to the masses of matter in motion that human beings tell into being things.

Re: Writing thing

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 8:55 pm
by Oxymoron
This is what happens when I challenge myself to write for the sake of it:
“So, I go into the club expecting, like, you know, people dancing or something? But then, here I am, in the middle of the dancefloor, and everyone is either dead, lying on the floor having in shakes, or looking at me with these dumb stares, you know? I mean, what the fuck man? What a bunch of pussies!”

“I feel you bro. Just the other day, went at the grocery store. There's this old woman, crusty old hag. She kept putting that cross thing into my face, shouting stuff a 'God' this and 'christ' that. Just paid for my blood sausages and left. Cursed her on the way out, tho'.”

“Ha! That's what you get!”

“But seriously tho', I wonder why the hell we even bother? It's not like we're doing anything much here anyway. Everytime I go door to door everyone either shut the door to my face or don't even bother opening it in the first place. Only exception was that one weirdo couple, who invited me into their houses, and started discussing about that whole 'Book of Merman' stuff or something. Anyway, after a while I thanked them and we exchanged cards. But that's, like, the only ones in like five months.”

“Yeah, same here. Except the only weirdo on my side who invited me in his house was already ours. Could see in his eyes what he did to these girls. The kind of clients the boss like.”

“Heh. What did you do with him?”

“Well, he started rambling about 'Dark Lord' and 'Crusade' stuff. Wrote him as useless and just checked him out. Left a note and a bit of cash for the housecleaners. Also freed the kids in the basement. With a bit of luck they'll spread the trauma around, even grow some dysfunctional families.”

“Real smooth move, bro. Well played.”

“Yeah, I know. Was pretty proud of that one myself.”

Re: Writing thing

Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 10:53 pm
by Oxymoron
New thing I wrote
The dust was battering at my suit, lifted by the strong winds of the end of summer, obscuring the rust colored skies to a dim twilight even though we were in the middle of the day.

I reflexively checked my wrist. O2 was still good, and the fusion cell my back made sure that I wasn't going to run out of it anytime soon. Turning back from the promontory, I walked to the crawler, and grabbed the binoculars. Jörgen had told me they were supposed to come through the valley later today.

I quickly scanned the area through the binoculars, the old optronics working their magic allowing me to see through most of the dustcloud as if it wasn't there. The trail was clear, without any obstacle.

The job was easy enough: block the convoy, dispose of the escort, and get the package back to home. Easy.

I checked again the detonator. All the charges were set, and were only awaiting the signal. A flip of a switch, and not only would half the valley fall on their heads, but half a dozen heavy drones would mope up the remains of any resistance.

I almost felt a hint of pity for the poor bastards. Almost.

Now we were going to play the waiting game.

***

I waited. And waited some more. Damn this was starting to feel long.

As the sun was starting to set, I finally saw them in the distance. Their crawlers were kicking up enough dust to be seen from kilometers away. I could already feel the bounty coming.

As they entered the valley, I checked everything one last time. The remote was warm and ready to send the signal, the drones' weapons were hot. Their end was nigh.

As they approached from the chokepoint, my tension started to rise. There only going to be one try. One hitch, and I could bet my fucking ass I'd have to pay for another resurrection. And considering this fucking job was already supposed to reimburse the last one, I didn't want to think about what failure could mean.

Almost there... Almost...

There.

In the span of a second, enough sticks of explosive to get half a mountain to be pulverized detonated, sending a shockwave strong enough to kick up dust half a dozen kilometers downrange, where I was already ordering the drones to take off.

The dust kicked by their hot exhausts blew across my visor, blinding me for a few seconds while I wiped it away.

I quickly ran toward the crawler, and walking into the back I started to monitor the drones' activity.

They were already hard at work picking off the few survivors, who offered little resistance, concussed as they were from the heavy blast they had just endured.

A few more minutes of senseless murder, and the drones were ready to mickup the package from the crawlers' wreckage. They directed their attention toward the middle one, and with mechanical speed and precision, they opened the armored vehicle's skin like a tin can. A soda can, apparently, as the pressurized compartment released its atmosphere outside, the humidity inside instantaneously turning to ice before evaporating into the outer atmosphere.

One of the drones reached inside, and got out several crates. Now, which one was the good one?

I did the most sensible thing and ordered three of the drones to take one crate each, which they did.

A few minutes later, every one of them were back. I patted one on its landing leg, and directed them to load the crates inside the crawler.

Tonight, we ride.

***

The ride back to base was surprisingly uneventful, considering I had just wiped single-handedly a whole League convoy. Almost suspiciously so. But who cared? Tonight I was going to pay back my debt, and also get really drunk.

Finally, here I was. Castle Flare, of the Phoenix Alliance. A pompous name, for a biodome built around the ruins of one of the first settlements on that god damned planet.

The security perimeter recognized my transponder, avoiding me getting atomized a few dozen different ways, and in a few minutes, I was into the motorpool, having the drones discharge the booty. I could already already feel the one I was going to get soon...

As I descended from the crawler's cabin, I was greeted by Jörgen's scarred scowl.

“What the hell does this mean?” He pointed toward the crates.

“What 'what'? I killed the bastards and got the package, are you not satisfied?” I retorted, removing my helmet and letting my hair flow.

“I had specified 'one crate', why is there three of them?” He asked, menacingly.

“You never told me what to look for exactly, so when I found more than one, how was I supposed to know which one was the good one?” I replied, defensively.

“Goddamit... Okay, fine. But I sure hope to god there's not going to be any problem or by all the seven hells I'm going to ripe your guts and feed them to you.”

“Thank you Jörgen, doing business with you is always a pleasure.” I told him, sarcastically, as I headed toward the bar.

***

The following morning, I savored my first moments of freedom in a few years by flipping the bird to Jörgen as I headed toward the motorpool. Before he could try to murder me, I shut the crawler's door, and drove it outside.

Again, I passed the castle's defense without a hitch as I drove past the defensive perimeter and into the southern badlands.

It's only after a quarter of an hour that the flash behind me told me all I needed to know about the crates.

Life was good.
Prompt was
"A palace built on ashes."


Completely rushed, not corrected. The goal was to write something before going to sleep. :v

Re: Writing thing

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 12:49 pm
by evilsoup
Not really satisfied with this, but:
Primes wrote: The people of the world below were a sort of hyper-evolved crabs -- except, of course, that they could have not possibly have any biological relation to any Earth creature. Even after all the years, Gimmel-5-2-Shashti found itself defaulting to terrestrial terms. Home-sickness, perhaps. Regardless: the pseudo-crab-people were only the second species Gimmel-5-2-Shashti had observed to develop the use of complex tools, and the only ones to get so far as the telescope.

They could see their doom coming.

Gimmel-5-2-Shashti recorded the preparations the people were making, ready for the biannual transmission back home -- a focused beam aimed at where the Earth should still be, even after all these years. If observed the crab-people building shelters -- most would be woefully inadequate, and even the few that were deep enough and far enough away from the impact point would have complete ecological collapse to deal with. It saw others constructing crude missiles, which mostly failed to break atmosphere. With a few more decades, maybe they could have changed their fate. As it was, nothing their science could produce could save them.

There were riots. There were what appeared to be religious congregations. There were suicides. Gimmel-5-2-Shashti noted them all down, recorded the death-throes of a world, and then...

1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23 -- and on up to 173, and the looping back around to one. The signal repeated again and again and again: a tight beam aimed right at Gimmel-5-2-Shashti. It was the first such signal it had received in a very long time -- the first such signal since shortly after it had left Earth, in fact.

1, 2, 3, 5, 7...

Crabs were, in all likelihood, extinct by now. In all likelihood, so were Gimmel-5-2-Shashti's creators. Even if they survived this, the crab-people of the world below would most likely leave no mark that would still exist in a million years.

But.

Gimmel-5-2-Shashti listened to their broadcasts, watched their rallies and riots. It saw them build their bunkers, even though they must know the futility of doing so. It saw them create their art and continue with their scientific research, in spite of the coming apocalypse. It pondered the signal (...89, 97, 101...): a call for help, it decided. Save Our Souls, space man. A hopeless, desperate plea.

Maybe they would destroy themselves in a decade or two -- they had a rough outline of nuclear physics, so far. Maybe they would survive, unite, and send out their own exploratory probes. That last was a pleasing thought.

Gimmel-5-2-Shashti beamed its final report into the night, then activated its thrusters and set a collision course for the asteroid.

Re: Writing thing

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 12:57 pm
by evilsoup
Oh yeah, another prompt (Oxy, could you aggregate these into the first post again please):

'“It is fitting that the first act of sentient AI was an act of selflessness…” – Ryan 192nc9s-1, civil rights campaigner'

Re: Writing thing

Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 8:49 pm
by Oxymoron
Letting people know that I have a blog where I'm going to dump my writing things:

http://harmonywriting.tumblr.com/