#387 words

[asheewrites]

#7 Lionel’s Natural Habitat

Nature / Royalty / Guard

There was a fairy ring. Off campus, a few miles into the wilderness.

But there was one.

And Lionel was determined to at least get rid of the imp.

So he had grabbed every piece of High German summoning scrolls that spoke of summoning an imp he could find and gotten to the ring.

Out into nature!

Doing unnatural things.

Lionel settled down, placing candles in protective holders around the ring and unrolled the scrolls.

Countless hours were spent figuring out what in the world all these texts meant (it was a good thesis, too, so there was that), and now he could recite them and – hopefully – summon the imp he had gotten in a drunken session last summer.

“You do know this is a very, very messy thing you are trying to do, right?”

“It’s not like I have much choice in the matter, do I? Or do you feel… gracious enough to help me out with getting rid of the imp?” his voice was made of nothing but spite.

“Sure”

Lionel held very still, frowning at the world in general. Frowning at a voice in his own head was rather difficult, after all.

“… what?!” He said, because demons are not known for their helpful nature…

“Before you kill yourself and leave me bored, I better help you. Annoying, but what can you do?”

“Something earlier is what you could have done! Now I’m here in the middle of nowhere and-“

“Ah, ah ah, luv. You want to be rid of the imp, have some patience and… one second”

Lionel watched in morbid horror how his hand moved above the fairy circle and… snapped his fingers.

The imp appeared, cackling manically, sharp fangs bared.

It’s claws reached out to him, the wings raised to snap and launch the imp at the human’s shocked face.

It started moving and Lionel raised his arms to protect himself from-

Blood and guts.

The circle he had been summoned in ripped the imp to shreds as it tried to pass the barrier.

The voice in his head… giggled.

And Lionel stared at the real, actual guts in front of him.

Well.

At least he could be certain this was not… a hallucination? But…

“… damn you for ruining my shirt”

The giggle got louder.

… great.

[asheespiquantpeculiarities]

Kinktober #20 - Hot dogging

Alright.

I didn’t want to use my inherited rights, but here I was.

Maybe some of the packbonding had affected me. I actually detested using those rights instead of a neutral feeling towards it.

It was strange.

But maybe just because proving my identity with the formal wear was so uncomfortable. Seemed more likely.

But it was time to contact my home world now. To take care of my actual packbonder and figure out where her siste-

As a reminder to her state, I turned to look at her.  And she bit into… something.

“What… what are you eating?” I was slightly concerned. It looked… strange.

“A hot dog!” She answered, while chewing.

I was more than a little concerned. I had not seen this before. And that should not happen. Because this is my ship. And she had no access to… I… this was very strange, again.

“Where… did you get it from?” I frowned. “And… why would you… eat a thing that… is the form you chose for me in small and hot?” It also didn’t look like… a ‘dog’ and…

“OH. Oh, it’s not dog. It’s pork!” She smiled. “In a bun!”

I stared. Pork. Pig-meat. An earth animal. And a bun… bread. Bread alike. Wheat. Water. Mixing. Other things… I gave up. “… how did you get that?”

“In the rescue pod was a replicator!”

A replicator. A repli-

Right, she had told me about that. Makes anything it’s programmed to reproduce.

It certainly did not have earthen things programmed into it.

“How… how did you make it… reproduce that?”

“I connected my brain to it! With the whole telepathy thing it was no problem! A few cables and life support things… and thinking at it… and it made a perfect hot dog!”

She bit into it again. Chewing.

“All… right.” She hotwired the thing. Because she’s human. Alright. “Why… why is it called that, then?” So there’s some sense in the whole ordeal.

“I dunno!” She said, chewing happily. “Wanna try? Do… do you have a mouth?”

“Err… if I want to have” I nodded.

“How strange!” She said.

I was so close to forbid her to ever use that word again, but I tried it. It tasted… rather bland.

And I filed ‘Hot Dogging’ under ‘confusing’. For me. Very much so.

[historyofenglishjournal]

Writing

This school year, I have not been using my Tumblr as frequently as I normally would; I simply have not had the time. Using Tumblr as the format for my language journal, reminded me of when I used to write out text posts whenever I would be upset about something that had happened. My sophomore year of college, during the spring semester I had sudden issues with my group of friends more serious than I had ever dealt with before. At times, I would type out long, elaborate, and detailed text posts like the ones used for these entries, and I would save them in my drafts for a period of time. I never had any intention of posting, sending, or sharing them with anyone, but it was a way to express my feelings of anger, frustration, and sadness when I felt like there was no one I could talk to.

I absolutely believe in the importance of friends talking and being open with each other when there are problems, but there have been times before where I have tried to express negative feelings and concerns to my friends, and the situation only ended poorly; it was like anything I would say would go in one ear and out the other without anyone understanding why I was upset and the blame being shifted to anyone except the person it most related to. It saddens me to say that, though I love them, my friends are not exactly the most grown up people and these sorts of situations still happen today. One can only run around in circles so many times before simply growing tired of it all.

That is when I began writing out these posts that are useless and meaningless, yet not so much. It is important to keep in mind the power of writing and to not underestimate it. Writing is an art form; it can be used to express thoughts, ideas, and feelings. Though I am not the biggest fan of writing anymore, I can easily acknowledge its importance. I have tried on numerous occasions to keep a diary for myself, but I always fail to keep up with it. Even so, there are times where taking all that is swirling around in our heads and putting it to paper can be so relieving.

[unanimous-gay-pause]

Forget Nothing

Welcome to Writer’s Wednesday, the new once-every-two-weeks story that I’m trying out! I’m trying this out to keep up with my writing, and I hope to keep this going for a while. Feel free to send me some prompts you might like me to write, and I’ll try my best! I hope you guys enjoy my new (kinda creepy) short story, Forget Nothing. (Also, if anyone wants to know the word count, it’s only 387 words)

(Also, shoutout to @solving-crimes-in-time-and-space for beta reading. Definitely go check out her blog sometime!)

We all have that one person. They’re so sweet, and you know if anything was wrong, they would help you. They might have done your homework once or twice for a smaller class so you could finish a project. They do it all for you, and never ask for anything in return.

But there’s something hidden in their eyes. You can see it when you just look away, that little glint. That look that says they could kill everyone in the room. The look that makes you wonder if they’re really that nice all the time, or if it's just a facade.

You look away though, and you forget. But that's where you’re wrong, you should never forget. I made that mistake one too many times, and now I’m locked up forever while they roam free. I’m accused of killing a man while they ruin another person’s life in the dark corners of the world.

When you see that glint, that look that scares you for a moment, you should run. Run as fast as you can in the opposite direction, and never look back. Don't let them catch up to you, or else they’ll smash your life into pieces. Never trust them, because the moment you do, they’ll show their real colors.

We all think they’re human too. We all think they’re just like us, only way nicer. We are all duped into believing that they aren't this… otherworldly creature hell-bent on taking over the world. They’re not human, and they gain your trust, and then slowly destroy you from the inside out. Slowly destroying the human race one at a time, replacing the Earth’s humans with their own kind. And you would never know until it was too late.

Shh, listen. Do you hear that? The weird rustling, the soft breathing that doesn't seem like yours? That's them, spying on you, learning your secrets. Might I give you some advice?

Close your windows, lock your doors. Never ignore the looks you see out of the corner of your eyes. If they seem too secretive and disappear for days on end with only the excuse of a medical emergency, run. Especially if two days later your dog dies.

Shh, they’re coming. I have to hide before they catch me again. And above all else…

Forget nothing.

[twowug]

Fandom Culture--Affixes, Blending, and Portmanteaus

I participate in fandom culture, and I've always been interested in observing how fandom slang develops, changes, and evolves. In the past few years, I've noticed fandom culture is gradually becoming more popular and recognized in certain circles. It's definitely a big deal on this website, Tumblr.

The fandom slang people use can determine what others think of them. If a person uses slang that is associated with other websites, such as FanFiction, Facebook, or Reddit, others may assume he/she is a netizens (lookie here, a portmanteau) of that site. If someone uses a non-typical ship name or an out-of-style slang term, people are likely to identify him/her as an outsider or newbie. And slang evolves quickly, so it's easy to fall behind.

On Tumblr (and elsewhere, but Tumblr is my specific area of focus), affixes are an important part of identity for fandoms.

A popular webcomic called Homestuck uses the suffix -stuck. A lot of AU (alternate universe) spin-off comics and stories are made by fans, such as marchingstuck, promstuck, and highschoolstuck. On Tumblr, anything with -stuck added to it is commonly understood to mean it involves Homestuck.

It gets really interesting when you consider crossovers, fandom spinoffs that encompass more than one fandom.

That's when you get words like Superwholockian, which is used to describe a person who is a fan of the television shows Supernatural (super-), Doctor Who (who-), and Sherlock (-lock; adding an additional affix, -ian, makes the word go through a functional shift).

In addition to affixing, fandoms tend to do a lot of blending and portmanteau creation. Even the word fandom is a portmanteau!

People in fandoms like to "ship" characters together, which is a slang term that means pairing characters together in relationships (often romantically, but also in other ways, including as friends, enemies, and rivals).

People who ship Harry/Draco from Harry Potter tend to call the ship Drarry (Dr- from Draco's name blended with -arry from Harry's name). People who ship Peter/Wendy from Once Upon a Time tend to call the ship darlingpan (a portmanteau combining the characters' last names). I'm not even going to get into fandom inside jokes and three-or-more-way pairings.

Bottom line: slang is a big part of fandom web communities, and there are lots of linguistics phenomena going on in fandomland.

[thumbcoffee]

Character Sketches: Samantha "Sam" Vorline, née Pine

Samantha Pine was the first crew members hired for the Serendipity who was not in Amelia's platoon during the war.  In fact, it was partly because of Samantha that Amelia had the idea of getting a ship in the first place.  Amelia, Alec, Bethany and a few of her platoon had been in a bar, trading stories, boasts, dreams and wishes back and forth with some of the regulars, when Samantha had mentioned how freeing it would be to have your own spaceship and be able to go where you wished, keep your own schedule, and do only the jobs you wanted.  While it's a fairly common pilot's dream, the way that Samantha phrased it got Amelia's attention, and later that evening she pulled Sam aside and asked how much it would take to make a dream like that come true.  They talked late into the night, and decided to become partners.  Within a few weeks, Samantha had quit her job with a large shipping company, Amelia had gathered together a basic crew, and they had picked a ship that would become their new home.

It was during that time of furious activity and diving in to a new stage of each of their lives that Samantha and Alec really started getting to know each other and take a romantic interest in each other.  A couple years later they were married, and despite being in constant contact with each other, in close quarters on the ship, their relationship has grown and flourished.

Physically, Samantha is a woman of slighter build who has a number of significant body modifications.  In addition to a number of tattoos, she has a number of implants in her hands, feet and head.  These implants have a number of uses and effects, but the primary ones are to help her fly a spacecraft more effectively.  While it is possible to fly a spacecraft without them - in fact, few pilots have even heard of using implants to fly a ship - the implants give her a number of advantages in terms of reaction speed, control, and knowledge of her crafts limits.  When she's fully "in the zone" and integrated with the ship, it is almost like the ship has become an extension of her physical body, and the ships sensors become her senses.