Two minutes...go!

[aliantha]

I usually go into it with *something* -- a word, an idea, a sentence. Otherwise, yes, I'd be going "ummmm" for two minutes.

Okay, thanks for the clarification Sorus and ali. I shall think about it.

Cool, way! The more, the merrier!

[Hashi Lebwohl]

ohmygodohmygodohmygod this couldn't be real. It can't be real. Not her. No. Not her. I can't.

You have to--you're under contract.

I know. It's--*sigh*. It's just that--

No "if"s, no "and"s, no "but"s. You took this job willingly so now I expect you to focus and get the job done.

Yes, sir. I will, sir. Just give me a second...

A sharp nasal inhalation followed by a protracted open-mouthed yet silent exhalation just like he'd learned in martial arts classes a lifetime ago. Clear the throat, clear the mind.

"How have you been, Greg? I had no idea it would be you."

"Things have been going well the past decade or so, ever since I took this job, Sheila. You are looking really beautiful, just like you did back then."

"Flatterer--you always were."

"Some things never change, my dear. Now...shall we get down to business and discuss what it is you want?"

[Sorus]

Or you could pull all of your posts together and do a separate thread in here with the whole story to date, if you'd rather. Up to you.

I really like this exercise, and forcing myself to adhere to it is half the fun. (I might bend the rules until they squeak, but I will try not to break them outright.) Trying to serialize it and keep it interesting is a challenge, and I'm not sure it would work well as a full-length anything.

[Linna Heartbooger]

That's my default state.

I was going to ask... 'with that particular story waiting to burst out of you, or various ones; but I'm guessing the latter.

I really like this exercise, and forcing myself to adhere to it is half the fun. (I might bend the rules until they squeak, but I will try not to break them outright.) Trying to serialize it and keep it interesting is a challenge, and I'm not sure it would work well as a full-length anything.

right... when it's on the honor system...
Also maybe helps develop discipline in certain skills that the longer runs don't?
That's what I'm telling myself...

Was the thing you kept going with and wrote a whole bunch more on ...the same story in the same sequence?

Also, just finished:

She walked downstairs and braced herself.
It was about to begin.
She'd barely cast her eyes on the floor when she saw the first one.
The message popped up: "Legoes on floor."
She quickly closed it out, then went on; the kitchen table was next.
"Dish," "food left out overnight," "dish," and "clutter" popped up four obedient textboxes.
She turned her head away and ceased to see them.
Into the kitchen she walked.
"Dirty dishes in sink; Clear sink before using for other dishes." said the large dialog box that rose to hover over the sink.
She closed that one out - with much more effort - then walked over to the coffeemaker.

[Sorus]

That's my default state.

I was going to ask... 'with that particular story waiting to burst out of you, or various ones; but I'm guessing the latter.

Various. I'm trying a few new things here. I don't usually write first-person.

Was the thing you kept going with and wrote a whole bunch more on ...the same story in the same sequence?

Yes, it's all connected. It may make sense eventually. Or not. I'm trying to walk the fine line between setting the scenery and not giving too much away. Probably not doing a very good job of it; this format is unforgiving to 'filler'.

Also, just finished:

She walked downstairs and braced herself.
It was about to begin.
She'd barely cast her eyes on the floor when she saw the first one.
The message popped up: "Legoes on floor."
She quickly closed it out, then went on; the kitchen table was next.
"Dish," "food left out overnight," "dish," and "clutter" popped up four obedient textboxes.
She turned her head away and ceased to see them.
Into the kitchen she walked.
"Dirty dishes in sink; Clear sink before using for other dishes." said the large dialog box that rose to hover over the sink.
She closed that one out - with much more effort - then walked over to the coffeemaker.

Well, that's a terrifying vision of the future.

[Sorus]

I'm expecting another interrogation center. Instead, he drops me off at an apartment complex, hands me a keycard.

"That's it?" The card has a room number on one side, a holographic insignia on the other. I wish I didn't recognize it, but I do.

He shrugs. "Good luck."

The front door opens automatically as I approach. The hall is dim and musty, the carpet underfoot may once have been white. The place feels empty. I find the door that matches the number on my keycard. A generic set of rooms. The furniture is worn but clean. There's a faint patina of dust over everything. I watch from the window as the shuttle takes off. The pilot doesn't look back at me.

I try the door again once he's gone; it opens freely. There are no guards, no obvious signs of surveillance. The whole thing feels anticlimactic. Is it a test?

I stand outside for a moment, considering my options. It's raining in earnest now. I have nowhere else to go. There's a hot shower and a real bed waiting back inside.

And a light blinking on the communications terminal.

[aliantha]

Dun-dun-dun....

And I agree with Sorus about yours, Linna. That's not sci-fi -- that's horror!

I posted a couple at Dan's blog Friday and forgot to put 'em here. Here's one:

***

Numbers scrolled past my eyes. Maybe an accountant, or a computer guru, or some other type of math savant could make heads or tails out of them, but I was mystified.

To cover my befuddlement, I steeled my gaze and turned to my companion. "What am I looking at?"

He shrugged. "Sales figures of some sort. But they don't tally with any of the numbers on our books. We think Sam is passing inventory under the table and pocketing the cash."

"Passing inventory? To who? And what kind of inventory?"

My companion looked at me as if I had just landed from another planet. "Drugs, obviously. Isn't that what we make?"

***
(I'd spent the day with my head in a spreadsheet. )

[Hashi Lebwohl]

He couldn't believe that he was here again. Again! He had sworn to his GA counselor that he wouldn't do this any more, putting himself at risk and disappointing everyone in his life. Circumstances forced him, though--at least, that is what he told himself. His wife had already left him and the kids needed things for school. His brother had lost his job and they were facing foreclosure. His spotty employment record made him a poor candidate for getting a loan, even from one of those payday advance places where the interest was almost criminal. No, those needs were more important and if he could just win big again like he had done in the past it would be over. All those problems could be solved and he could breathe easily again, knowing that he had made everything right for everyone.

His mind had already been made up long before he bought his chips. He knew the odds, he knew the game backwards and forwards, inside and out. He knew the odds, the facts, the figures, the calculations, and how to play the hand he had been dealt. Everything he needed was now concentrated into the two laminated pieces of paper lying face-down on the table in front of him. The world shrank until it was just him, the dealer, the other players, and his cards.

He never bothered looking at the other players because they were only incidental to the game. The guys who always talked at length on Internet videos or TV shows about reading players and having poker faces--all nonsense. He knew the real secret. The true opponent wasn't sitting at the table across from him. No, the real opponent was everywhere around him, right now, looking at him, looking over his shoulder, offering him the seat upon which to sit and the cold beer in his drink holder. The House. Life. Death. They were all one and the same.

He looked at his cards, calmly, as if they didn't matter. He ignored the voice telling him that everything depended upon them--he hadn't been that kind of novice for a very long time. One little quick peek just to see what they were. One more glance at the spread.

Nodding to himself, he went all in.

[aliantha]

Very interesting, Hashi.

[Linna Heartbooger]

I'm trying to walk the fine line between setting the scenery and not giving too much away. Probably not doing a very good job of it; this format is unforgiving to 'filler'.

Probably overall a good thing.

Love the "The card has a room number on one side, a holographic insignia on the other. I wish I didn't recognize it, but I do."

Well, that's a terrifying vision of the future.

And I agree with Sorus about yours, Linna. That's not sci-fi -- that's horror!

Okay, I kind of love that it got a strong reaction.

Aren't alot of sci-fi's "unsettling visions of a possible future" just metaphors for present realities?

[aliantha]

Aren't alot of sci-fi's "unsettling visions of a possible future" just metaphors for present realities?

Yup -- or else they're somebody taking a current sociological trend and following it to what might be its inevitable conclusion.

[Sorus]

One of the last things I wrote (elsewhere) got panned because some folks saw metaphor where none was intended.

Sometimes fantasy is just fantasy...

[aliantha]

One of the last things I wrote (elsewhere) got panned because some folks saw metaphor where none was intended.

Sometimes fantasy is just fantasy...

Yes, it is.

Screw 'em. Write what pleases you.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

She wants what?

You heard me and I know you understood me. She wants me and she wants to work for you doing the same sort of job I am doing: brokering other people's deals.

Does she realize exactly what it is she is asking? You are certain that she knows what it means?

Yes, I made it quite plain that "selling your soul" isn't really "selling" so much as it is "exchanging"--a part of her goes to you and a part of you goes to her. She sees no problem with this. She also said, and I quote, "no price is too high for what I want".

Really? She sounds like my kind of girl. Tell her she has a deal.

[aliantha]

Heh. Be careful what you wish for....

I did two at Dan's blog today. The first one is sort of seasonal. The second one is, unfortunately, fairly true to life.

***

The moon, blood-red, rose through the fog.

Some call it a harvest moon. But not in my neighborhood.

I stood at the edge of the graveyard. Hours may have passed, but time meant nothing to me. Finally, I was rewarded by the sight of the vampire rising from its grave.

It spotted me, and with an evil grin, it flew toward me at an impossible speed.

"You think you've got me in your clutches, don't you?" I sneered -- or wanted to. My words came out as a sort of grunt. Then I reached through the eye sockets of the monster, reveling in its screams, and drew out its dessicated brain. Mmm, tasty.

***

"Jesus," Harry said. "Another shooting in Anacostia? Don't run it."

I turned to him. I was filling in at the editor's desk; the regular early-morning editor had called out yet again -- something going on with her kids, no doubt -- and I'd been jolted out of a sound sleep at 3am to come in and start at 5. "What do you mean, don't run it?" I asked, too tired to filter my words.

"Those guys are always picking one another off down there. We can't run a story on every homicide that happens in Ward 8 -- we'd never have room to run anything else."

I wondered whether he was still drunk from the night before. "The victim in this one was a five year old," I said quietly.

"Oh." He turned away. As he stumbled back toward his office, he said, over his shoulder, "I guess we should run that one."

[Sorus]

"Lieutenant Hunter. Or should I say Blake?"

The slip is deliberate. My heart races. There are a dozen people in the universe who know my real name, and she isn't one of them.

Someone talked. What did they say?

"I fear you have me at a disadvantage." I sound calmer than I feel. "Sir."

"Relax. We'll talk more when we meet in person."

Meaning it's not a secure line. Meaning she knows too much.

[deer of the dawn]

"I got nothing'" she said aloud to the glare of the screen.

The cat lifted its head from her lap and gazed at her with green eyes.

"You can't possibly believe that," said the grimalkin. "After all you've been through.

"I can't talk about that, you idiot. If I tell people I hear animals and things and people saying things to me, they'll lock me up."

"Try ME!!!" said a thundering voice behind the monitor. She looked up and there stood Archangel Michael, sword in hand.

"Ohh...." was all that came out. The keys began clacking furiously.

[Sorus]

'Relax,' she said. Right.

Sleep is a lost cause. For all my freedom, the place feels like a cell.

The waiting is always the worst. I pace.

I'm not a prisoner. They want something from me.

What's the worst-case scenario?

Say she does know everything. It's over. We're safe.

I'm starting to feel a bit better, then the door chime rings.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

While she lay there, sleeping quietly and contentedly, the perfect picture of everything he could ever want actualized in the simple fact that she wanted him, he got out of bed and wandered into the kitchen for a nightcap. Actually, this would be the third nightcap this evening but he didn't have a word for what that would be called. It didn't matter, in any event, because although he could still get a buzz--and he welcomed those when they happened--he could never get drunk.

She loves you, you know.

I know. It's weird, to hear you speaking of love. Don't take offense at this but I didn't think you thought about things like love, or even could think about them.

You can't offend me and you know it. Of course I think about love. I have been around for a long time so I think I know a little more about love than you do.

Why do you think I make deals, hm? Did you ever ask yourself that question?

No, of course not. Okay, why?

So that I can experience, through the part of me that is linked to you, the things I have never and could never experience on my own. I need you as much as you need me.

[aliantha]

You guys rock.

I didn't play on Friday. Maybe this week...