Shy Cat’s ShuffleBox

A wip As daily as I can be An exercise in random What will be here to see? The Shy Cat

[shycats-shufflebox]

October 8, 2018 - Retroactive

Prompt: Canadian Thanksgiving

Megamind cackled, a full evil laugh that delighted in finding exploits in the system.

“Extra turkey! Extra dressing! Extra mashed potatoes and yams!”

Roxanne rolled her eyes and continued packing. Honestly, it wasn’t even as though Minion couldn’t just MAKE them a full Thanksgiving dinner at any time, and Megamind could eat that all then. It wasn’t like he had actually found some devious plan to defraud the entire concept of the holiday.

Of course, the same could be said of actual Thanksgiving dinner on the fourth Thursday of November; you could have roast turkey any old day, but it was suddenly important THAT particular day.

Well, that, and family…

She looked over at her still laughing boyfriend and suppressed the need to ask him again if he really wanted to go through with this. It wasn’t even like she’d SEEN these cousins in ages, and the most recent only at a wedding earlier in the year. The particular branch they would be visiting had left Midwestern USA two generations ago to open a campground in the lake country of Ontario north of the border, then settled in the land of maple syrup and national health care.

They were family, but family that lived on the other side of the Great Lakes: the kind you send Christmas cards to, not necessarily the kind you crash Thanksgiving dinners.

Not that they were party crashing, this was a properly invited holiday dinner. Absolutely certainly only made to verify cousin Roxanne actually WAS dating an alien supergenius, and if his skin really WAS blue in person. Which normally Roxanne would have almost-politely told them to shove up where the stuffing goes.

Except… they were family. And Megamind was SO hungry for family, and traditions. And, of course, turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes.

And Roxanne WAS running out of family she anywhere-regularly spoke with to undergo the “yes, I’m dating a former super villain, how’s the kids?” routine with. She might as well get it over with now, when there was food offered.

She wasn’t expecting - much. For the majority of her closer geographically-and-blood relatives, there wasn’t much in the way of “acceptance” in her choice of significant other; the best they had managed with most of those that had stopped complaining was the acceptance that they weren’t going to be able to change her mind about it.

And… there were the outliers. The kids enthralled by the mechanical genius who loved bouncy houses and teaching the etiquette of a proper evil monologue. The already-grey sheep who figured “whatever,” and were starting to see the real Megamind.

Having the chance to build the number of those outliers? Without having to pay airfare for the visit thanks to super-technology invisible boats (and pre-arranged, totally legal border crossing visit)?

She closed her suitcase with a smile, temporarily re-convinced. Bring on the turkey and the awkward uncles, she and her blue boyfriend were going to Canada!

<hr>

I broke away from my prompt list for this self-indulgent little celebration of my native land’s other October celebration. The cousin’s described backstory is the reason (most of) my American relatives live in Canada.

As to why the Canadian ones currently live in the USA, well, blame internet dating and my American step-father. :)

Additional words:

“... And he never figured out he could just plan ivy or something against the wall to hide it!”

“Is it still there, Uncle Megamind?”

“Oh, no, I had a grafitti artist make a city sponsored mural over it when I became Defender. Which he ALSO never thought of!”

Roxanne rested her hip on the doorframe, a mug of cocoa in her hand, smiling fondly at her boyfriend regaling the young ones with recounts of age-appropriate misdoings.

Her Aunt Barbara leaned in, a slightly worried look on her face. “Did he really...”

Roxanne just nodded, still smiling.

Aunt Barbara coughed, the signal of someone who does not approve but is too polite to say anything. She called out, “Who wants warm pumpkin pie?”

And then blinked in suprise to see the blue alien dressed all in black (if a sweater and jeans) leap to his feet and wave his hand in the air with an unselfconscious “Me, me!” Which got the kids going.

Roxanne smiled just a little deeper. At this rate, they might just earn a re-invite next year.

[shycats-shufflebox]

October 7, 2018 - Retroactive

Prompt: Surprise until the end

The scene: Three child figures, stout and with round oversized heads. It is a cartoon, simple line work and exaggerated expressions.

The first, a blue eyed boy with broad shoulders, is dressed as a fairy tale knight with a bright gold plume on his helmet and a gold cape. His treat bag is bulging full.

The second, a brunette girl, is dressed as the Queen of Hearts, complete with a flamingo croquet mallet. Her bag is respectfully full of candy.

Both look to their third companion, the boy with a confused expression, the girl with a look of horrified concern.

The third child’s costume is much harder to identify. If one is familiar with the scientist in question, one might - conceivably - recognize the mustache as similar to Nikola Tesla’s. The staff the boy has propped beside him, which has a fish in the bulb at the top, is otherwise styled as a Tesla coil, perhaps as a well meaning attempt to prompt the viewer.

Almost all of this, however - with the possible exception of the living, glowing fish in the ball on the staff - is overshadowed by the child’s head, which is oversized even in comparison to his companions, and his skin, which is a brilliant blue.

He is scowling at the pillow case he holds in his hands. It is empty, save the single rock he has taken out to glare at.

Perhaps no one appreciated his costume?

<hr>

Yes, I did a Megamind version of the Charlie Brown “I got a rock” scene. Prompt was - basically that scene, “goodie bag OR a rock.”

Why yes, I am evil.

Next year:

“Megamind, I don’t believe it’s - right - to use a hypnodisk on the adults giving out candy.”

“It’s JUSTICE, Wayne!”

“Roxy, please, don’t encourage him. Please?”

Also, I had the HARDEST time coming up with a costume for Roxanne that I haven’t seen before.

I am please with what I came up with. *innocent evil grin*

[shycats-shufflebox]

October 6, 2018 - Retroactive

Prompt: Mask

“I’ve got my Hallowe’en costume ready!”

Megamind spun around at the sound of his bestest companion’s voice, clapping in delight. “Wonderful, filet mignon!”

Roxanne turned around, slower, but definitely curious as to what the alien fish had come up with.

After all, he had been designing and constructing Megamind’s villain outfits for years, each more dramatic than the last. He had even mentioned being interested in possibly pursuing human high fashion design, which she was actually excited for him to try.

Nothing she could have imagined, however, could have prepared her for what she saw.

A robotic gorilla suit with some sort of contraption on the back - in other words, his everyday walk-among-the-bipeds suit. And strapped to the glass dome that held his water was a paper plate painted orange, with a stereotypical jack o’lantern face of a jagged black “smile” and cut out triangles for eyes.

“Brilliant!” Megamind proclaimed, sweeping out his arms dramatically in approval. “Classic!”

Roxanne didn’t even bother trying to ungape her jaw as Minion preened in front of his Sir.

Somehow, she kept forgetting she would never, ever understand the pair.

<hr>

No afterword to this, mostly because it would end up being longer than the original write. Amuse yourself with your own imaginings of Minion being swamped with admirers at whatever Hallowe’en fuction they have gone to, and Roxanne’s continued bemusement.

I begin to catch up! Somewhat...

[shycats-shufflebox]

So, after the sister location for my work had three people call in sick several days, I was working extra hours and commuting between locations.

Fun!

I ended up sleeping most of the weekend, and spent tonight on a mini spa in my tub.

Oh, and Thursday’s Write WAS written, but eaten due to a Tumblr quirk I hadn’t been aware of (namely, it won’t do posts with Greek characters. :p ).

I will work on catching up on my missing days, because I DO have good ideas for my prompts, but right now I’m taking mulligans and focusing on my mental health.

Stay spooky, buy cheap candy!!!

[shycats-shufflebox]

October 5, 2018

Prompt: Guy Fawkes

“So, I’ve been reading about Guy Fawkes.”

Non sequiturs, especially ones delivered with energetic enthusiasm, where to be expected when dealing with a hyper genius alien city defender.

“Oh?” his reporter girlfriend replied, almost not looking up from her laptop (catching herself in time to remember how sensitive he was to being ignored).

“It is FASCINATING!” Megamind exclaimed, gesturing to the bank of monitors in front of his high backed leather chair. In addition to multiple reference pictures, there seemed to be several different articles and other written documents.

Including at least two Roxanne suspected were historical, if the fact she couldn’t tell if those were “s”s or “f”s was accurate at this distance.

But what caught her attention was the image of the giant bonfire, with what appeared to be a man made of straw and old clothes burning at the top.

“Oh?” she repeated, actually a little interested now.

“I mean, there’s just so many LAYERS! On one hand, Fawkes was far from the most responsible for the entire Gunpowder plot, and yet he is the one to live in infamy. On the other hand, his actual involvement is so interesting, especially in light of his military past. Taking into account what the treasonists were protesting - especially in the context of the multiple religious and political upheavals since Henry VII, and one really cannot blame their frustrations at the prosecution of the Catholics - although the king later had the GALL to claim where ‘falsely and slanderously’ called ‘Cruel Laws,’ including TAXING Catholics that didn’t attend Anglican services!”

Taking a small breath, Megamind had to grimace slightly.

“Granted, the idea to BLOW UP the entire PARLIMENT while the king and lords were IN SESSION MIGHT have been a TOUCH extreme...”

Roxanne coughed at that, glad she hadn’t been drinking anything.

“But then! THEN! After executing every conspirator they could find, the goverment LITERALLY passes a LAW REQUIRING citizens to attend ANNUAL RECOUNTING of the DIVINELY INSPIRED interception of the plot! Seriously, even as Overlord I could not have been this utterly petty!”

Roxanne wasn’t - entirely - certain about that, but she had to admit what she could pick up from his ramblings did not seem to paint a flattering picture of the “good guys.”

She finally realized where she recognized that peculiar white and black mask on one of the monitors from - that movie a while back, something about the fifth of November? No wonder Megamind was obsessing about this right now...

Roxanne blinked, suddenly, then her eyes darted quickly between the image of the mask and her boyfriend. Narrow, pointed chin with the black stripe, prominent black eyebrows, dramatically straight nose...

She stared at Megamind for a bit, trying to picture him with a moustache.

He noticed her gaze, and pulled his shoulders in a bit, embarrassed. “What?”

She blinked, embarrassed herself at being caught. Fortunately... “What, I’m not allowed to look at my gorgeous boyfriend?”

That earned her a reprieve, and a delightful blush from her beau.

But seriously, the parallels really were kind of rediculous when taking into account. She was rather glad he would never notice them, else, well...

Even if he wasn’t exactly petty, given his flair for the dramatic - Roxanne didn’t want any bonfires of Metro Man, even as a joke.

His success rate with large blazes wasn’t always the best.

<hr>

So, yeah, I find the story behind the Gunpowder Plot really interesting. There are just so many layers to it, from Henry VII’s decision to cut from the Catholic Church to the wild swings in the English monarchy following his death, the points on both sides, and the plan to literally BLOW UP PARLIMENT...

But it’s the aftermath that’s just so telling about human nature.

Most of my timeline comes from this insightful introduction to the idea, up to the British equivilant to Hallowe’en: Bonfire Night.

Afterword:

Wayne hovered over the effigy of white, gold and straw, focused.

From below his flight:

“Hurry up with those marshmellows! We want S’mores!”

“Perfection, like justice, must come in its own time!”

[shycats-shufflebox]

October 3, 2018

Prompts: Cool Hat, Witch

It was the little things, sometimes, dating Megamind. Like when he, out of the blue, announced he wanted to go to a Harry Potter movie marathon at one of the local theatres.

He almost certainly wouldn’t be able to stay for the entire thing - hero business would see to that. And, honestly, he wasn’t that big of a fan of the series.

But the way his beautiful green eyes lit up at the thought of all those people, united by a common love, sharing something so - alien to the normal world...

There way no way Roxanne would ever say “no.”

And then to see he planned on going in full costume (and by that he meant just CLOTHES, no disguise watch)...

He beamed from under the brim of his giant wizard style hat. It was black, of course, like his robes, both stitched out in silver and Megamind-blue stars and symbols. A miniature (fake) Brainbot was perched on the tip of what must be a very reinforced hat, sparkling lightning within its globe and seinging its glowing eyestock is a surprisingly cheerful rhythm.

Within the circle of black his blue face was clearly visible - he was planning to come dressed as one of them, not hiding.

Roxanne initially demurred against a costume, until he presented her with a wand to match his own - recognizably a wand, but with just the right amount of careful detail to invoke his De-gun.

Well, as long as she could wear plain clothes, she supposed she could be a witch for a day...

<hr>

I wish I had a better visual imagination (mine is primarily kinesthetic, actually). I can only picture Megamind’s cosplay in pieces in my head.

I love the idea of him being so gleefully happy at the though of other people’s geeky hobbies - after being shunned for so long, I can see him feeling kinship with the various “cliqués” of fandom.

And it looks like this is a thing:

“Two seats near the emergency exit.”

The poor woman at the ticket counter gazed at him in horror.

“And yes, I’ll take the hat off for the movies.”

“Oh, praise the Lord!”

[shycats-shufflebox]

October 2, 2018 - Retroactive

Prompts: Toilet Paper, Rotten Eggs

Megamind woke up, stretched, stumbled into the bathroom, and completed his morning routine.

It had been a late night being the city’s defender, and while he adored the job it did come with distinct drawbacks. One of which was no longer being the sole individual dictating his sleeping patterns.

Criminals and villains got to plan; heros had to stay up late and reroute sewage when a pipe broke in downtown Metro City.

So he was much more fogheaded than his normal hyper self when he walked into the main area of the lair. And it took him a moment of blinking to process the scene in front of him.

Streamers - scratch that, TOILET PAPER strewn about from every surface, entwined with his idea cloud and wrapping robot suits like mummies.

Upon what little clear horizontal surfaces that existed, that being a few inches square of tables and a quarter of the chairs, where piles of shaving cream. His personal chair practically appeared to be wearing a French wig, what with the columns on the arms and the back.

And, finally, several splatters of - yes, his nose was not deceiving him - ROTTEN EGGS. That they were all on the floor and in perfectly lit areas and so of minimal risk did not dilute from the fact there were BROKEN ROTTEN EGGS in his LAIR!

At this point of realization, Megamind was pretty much hyperventilating, the slow kind where you took in way too much air all at once at only slightly less than twice your normal speed.

Then, quite understandable, he screamed.

Minion (after the necessary length of time required to wake up in a start, raise up to his bowl, and get his suit to process enough input to move) skidded into the main area, where his Sir was roaring in fury and clawing at the air around his prominent head. Minion did not notice this, however, being too preoccupied with gaping in horror at the scene before him.

There was no question who was responsible. In the very center of the mayhem, artfully constructed from a web of toilet paper, was a familiar block letter M.

And if that wasn’t signature enough, along a bank of equipement too delicate to otherwise profane was an array of pumpkins. Scorched into them was the following message:

Merry Mischief Night! - Metro Man

PS: Good job last night, little buddy!

Megamind roared at the top of his lungs again, finally working up the coordination to march over to the pumpkins and grab the one with the offending name. He raised it up, as high as his arms could reach, and smashed it against the floor.

And then proceeded to jump on the remains.

Minion, who had recovered enough to close his jaw, watched quietly while he tried to calculate exactly how long this would take to clean up. Probably not very long, honestly, in the state it had been left.

After his tekel was finished with it? Myn-the-Fantastic only knew.

<hr>

Another write that took longer than I thought it would, but I am happy with the result.

Obviously, this probably should have waited until October 30th, but I couldn’t wait. From my understanding, the term in the Great Lakes area is properly “Devil’s Night,” but I can’t see Wayne calling it that, so I went with the alliteration.

Tekel (lit: Overlord, but in practice a term of both respect and affection) and Myn-the-Fantastic are from @setepenre-set’s detailed and glorious Megamind fanon.

Finally:

“I liked him better BEFORE he got a sense of humor!”

Minion gaped at him, stunned, before Megamind sputtered.

“You’re never allowed to repeat that!”

[shycatdreaming]

October 1, 2018

Prompt: Candy

Roxanne hefted the jar of olives off the store shelf and checked out the nutrient label.

She wanted to feel calm and everyday, because after all she was performing an everyday task: shopping for groceries. The twist was that she was shopping for groceries with her boyfriend, and despite all the work they’d done getting to this point today was still the first time they’d actually done this.

Keep reading

[shycatdreaming]

Gah, of course, I leave this until the last minute.

And then can’t find my original post with this list.

Ah, c’est la vie.

Anywau, I’m going to do a Megamind Month (blame @elf-kid2) over at my Write A Day sideblog @shycats-shufflebox.

I’ll be working from the list of prompts I put up a few months ago for October - UNLESS someone wants to suggest something for me to write on?? (hint hint - feel free to send an ask to either blog!)

The Shufflebox is primarily for “first decent idea, completed as fast as possible” (kinda like limited time drawing challenges), but I do try to do ideas justice so I hope the fandom will enjoy reading them.

Writes will be reblogged here, so you don’t need to follow the Shufflebox - but it wouldn’t hurt my ego if you do. ;)

List of prompts in reblog.

[shycatdreaming]

I came up with this list a few months ago. It’s not intended to be fixed - most days have multiple prompts to inspire creativity, and as said I GREATLY welcome any suggestions!!

That said, here’s what I’m be wokring from for now:

Keep reading

[shycats-shufflebox]

September 30, 2018

The strangest item at the auction was the gaming console.

It didn’t fit with the hundred piece made-of-silver silverware, the dozens of taxidermy animals, or the decaying Rolls Royce.

Especially since old man Albretch died over twenty years ago, and this console took cds.

<hr>

Friday and Saturday were for sleep. Maybe at some point I’ll stop needing so much on the weekends.

I’m not holding out much hope, though.

Random prompt words from Text Fixer:

Estate

Condemned

Console

Write completed 9:54pm

[shycats-shufflebox]

September 27, 2018

Well, I’m awake.

On balance, I guess there’s not much worse reality could throw at me.

<hr>

Ok, up front, I struggle with stress, trauma, anxiety and depression. Obviously, this is total BS, and I can vividly remember specific examples of this being WRONG.

On the other hand, it’s the write for the day, and on good days honestly making me leave my nice soft warm bed IS the worst thing that happens. So, here we are.

Can I also say what the lightning is with three pretty much identical prompts today? I’m glad I misread one of them, it would have been USELESS without it.

After a full minute of planning and typing. ^-^

Random prompt words from Text Fixer:

Ordeal

Moaning [I legit read this as “morning” and shall count it as such as described above]

Horrible

Write completed 9:50pm

[shycats-shufflebox]

September 26, 2018

“Seriously?”

“It’s a classic!”

“It’s a disaster!”

“I always wanted one when I was younger.”

“.... Just how old ARE you?”

“Ha, ha, very funny.”

“It doesn’t even run.”

“It’s a project car.”

“It’s in three pieces.”

“A big project.”

“And where is this project supposed to happen?”

“.... In our renovanted garage?”

“.... Keep talking.”

<hr>

Random prompt words from Text Fixer:

Section

Convertible

Junk

Write completed 11:19pm

[shycats-shufflebox]

September 25, 2018

Laid out before them,

Most broken,

Those that retain their paper coats

Ragged and illegible.

But they are the keys of creation,

The instruments of imagination.

A smiling sun

A box with a triangle roof and too-big door

Sticks and eyes and a family linking nonexistent hands

We have forgotten to see these pictures

The way the artists see them.

We can only see the wax.

They can see inside themselves.

<hr>

Random prompt words from Text Fixer:

Crayon

Distribution

Profound

Write completed 11:25pm

[shycats-shufflebox]

September 24, 2018

It’s strange to recognize just how disconnected from the natural world we’ve become.

I’m not saying we all need to return to nature - I’m writing this from a smart phone in my heated apartment, I am a child of the modern era - but looking back there are so many things that have been lost that were once known.

The entire controversy of cattle mutilations, for example. I’m not going to get into any arguments about the existence of paranormal explainations for the extreme cases. It’s the normal ones I’m talking about.

Nowadays, if even a farmer were to see the result of decomposition and predadation, they may not recognize a perfectly natural death (or at least reclaimation).

We are so far removed from death in our society, outside of Hollywood. The basic facts of decomposition, what body parts would be targeted for eating by animals, the very appearance of death.

This was once common to the majority of the population. Their first assumption upon seeing an animal body we now view as a horror would be mundane.

I’m not saying that is better. I prefer living in a society where children are expected to live to adolescence, where we can buy nutritionally complete food at our convenience, where a wealth of information waits within my machine-made pants’ pocket.

But it was still lost. And we create horror stories in its place because we do not realize it.

How much of this loss of knowledge hides real horror behind our fantasies?

<hr>

As stated above, I do not want to create any controversies about unexplained phenomena. I’m just noting the fact that we’ve lost touch with the natural phenomena, where reality has become unrealistic to us.

And to use the prompts in a way that felt comfortable tonight. Seriously, look what I had to work with!!!! There’s like 1.3 prompt here with that much overlap!

Random prompt words from Text Fixer:

Abnormal

Creepy

Carcass

Write completed 9:07pm

[shycats-shufflebox]

September 22, 2018 - Retroactive B

The villagers act like it’s MY fault my father’s a dragon slayer. Like the fact he is famous, rich from rescued treasure, and a renown fighter is somehow on MY head, the way they treat me.

I only have them put in the stocks ONE DAY for that kind of talk, after all. A real princess type would probably have them thrown into the dungeons.

<hr>

Random prompt words from Text Fixer:

Privilege

Hunk

Daddy

Write completed 8:56pm

[shycats-shufflebox]

September 23, 2018

Used to be a time, when you wanted something with blood done you went to a barber and not a doctor. They say that’s why the pole looks that way, red blue and white stripes.

Nowadays, a guy wants something with feelings done, he heads to his local barber shop too.

It’s intimate, being in that small room with the bright lights and the mirrors and the guy with sharp blades near your throat and other guys waiting for the same behind newspapers. You don’t share secrets you overhear in the barber shop.

Not if you don’t want to know if your own blood runs red or blue.

<hr>

“Probe” kinda got lost here; I kinda took it as “probing at thoughts,” so the candid sharing of emotions? It wouldn’t have gone in this direction without that prompt, at least, so it was used.

And yes, more history nuggets.

Random prompt words from Text Fixer:

Barbershop

Probe

Symbolic

Write completed 10:24pm

[shycats-shufflebox]

September 22, 2018 - Retroactive A

Sometimes it’s easier than others. This time, all it took was a tainted chocolate bar.

Idiot is one of the richest bastards in the city, and a he picks up a 50 cent candy bar off of a random employee’s desk.

Another reason this particular assignment was easy.

I’m sitting in my chair, waiting for him to wake up in the one he’s tied to. It was hard, getting him balanced just right - bastard definitely doesn’t limit himself to one candy bar a day.

It’s cliché, cleaning your nails with a knife, but it alway seems to set the mood.

I wait until the dizziness wears off, and I can tell from his eyes he can see what I’m doing. I drop my arms to my knees, lean forwards, and smile.

Sometimes, even, it’s also fun.

<hr>

Flake is a type of British candy bar. There was a specialty candy shop in my university town in Canada where I could pick them up; quite delightful.

Random prompt words from Text Fixer:

Flake

Blurry

Guttonous

Write completed 10:18pm