pipe bomb dream 6
She’s in the shop. They show two young men on the grainy TV. The shop mechanic’s eyes are lost to the TV. Not sorting drill bits anymore. She starts to deburr her pieces at his table. Deburring, removing of inconvenient edges. “You know,” he says, “I swear I’ve seen him before. In the shop, probably.…
pipe bomb dream 5
Next afternoon. There are things on the news about a bombing at the marathon. He is in a class. The class has stopped. 2:49 PM. They all talk about the tragedy. He doesn’t waste his words. Silent. “Did you know anyone at the race?” someone next to him asks. “Someone’s brother,” he says. “Someone you…
pipe bomb dream 4
That night. She’s punching their shared wall. He hears her. Dull thuds. Walls are difficult to punch. “Cal,” Silas says. “Cal.” “Stupid. So stupid,” she says. She uses punches as punctuation marks. “What,” he says. “Felt so. Helpless.” Punch, punch. Punch. “Well…” he says. Resigned. That’s the way it is. She stops. “He couldn’t even…
pipe bomb dream 3
That evening. She walks past the couch. He’s on the phone. “What I-?” Silas says. Stuttering. He’s caught off guard. The phone buzzes. “It was two dates,” he says. Defensive. Cal sits down next to him. Watches. The phone buzzes. “Where were you last night?” the girl on the phone says. Silence. Silence. “At least…
pipe bomb dream 2
The morning. The room has one window. He gets up. The carpet is green. Used to be. There is a door. Another room. A kitchen. Smells. Someone making eggs. “Good morning,” she says. There is a smile in her voice. She likes him. She’s not mad. “Good morning,” Silas says. There is blood in his…
pipe bomb dream 1
“What’ya working on?” is what the shop mechanic always says when someone new walks in the door. Because you never knew what people were working on. It always surprises you. And they always have stories. The machine shop is in its morning lull. Two boys at the mill grinding down a part for their electric…
bottoms dream 12
Raymond’s fingers trembled over the words of the tattered paperback. His voice did not rise above a whisper, melancholy settling deep into his bones. “The emotions that go with these images of bottoming are reluctance, loathing, sadness, mourning, inhibition, enclosure, lethargy…” Rose’s head had fallen against his shoulder as the bus bumped along to God…
bottoms dream 11
“Doctor?” “Yes, Johnson?” “Perhaps we should discuss…recent events.” The doctor fell silent. Johnson continued anyway. “Like it or not, we’ve got a mess to clean up.” The doctor remained silent. Johnson sighed in frustration. “Don’t do this, Doctor. We’ve got two dangerous teens on the loose. We don’t know where they’re going and we don’t…
quarantine 1
The air of the cavern-like dining hall was literally filled with insects: butterflies, dragonflies, beetles, but no bees or horseflies. The ground was carpeted with small, harmless furry animals: rabbits, mice, ferrets, gerbils, and everything in between. But the benches werealso filled, with humans. Mycha started to walk through the fray. “This is the Harmless…
bottoms dream 10
Raymond regarded Rose impassively through the one-way window. “The subjects have been separated until further notice.” “So your answer is containment, Doctor?” Rose paced the room. She looked constantly through the window, impossibly, directly at Raymond. With each glance,her eyes clouded over more, and with each glance, she grew more frantic, the warmth Raymond craved…
viviocentrism + vampires 5
You flick open your pocketknife and grip the handle. It’s two in the morning. Your friend’s breathing has finally slowed. You’ve eased him over, but the back of his head is not looking at you, not yet. In your other hand, you clench a wrinkled Wikipedia article. Your lips press themselves together as you read…
vivocentrism + vampires 4
You leave the room to your friend’s triumphant slap on the back. “Told you I’d see you in semi’s.” You take his praise in your usual joking way, but you then continue to stare. Your gaze, though you don’t know it, holds sadness and fear in equal measure. Your friend pulls back and scrunches his…
viviocentrism + vampires 3
You wake up to your friend and roommate sitting on your chest, and you can’t breathe. You struggle to throw him off, curling and slapping ineffectually at his legs. He grins, assuring you that it’s all a joke. “Good, you’re up.” And he gets off your chest. You do not respond, still not forgiving him…
viviocentrism + vampires 2
You hear sirens and run. Within the characterless walls of the high school hosting this big-deal national tournament ring the sounds of disgust and fear. Everyone is running away, but you, through some inexplicable self-destructive urge, run towards the sounds of fear. You come across one victim and you come across another, and the only…
quarantine 3
Neal was drifting in and out of sleep in his austere grey room with a bed that looked like a cot. He didn’t want to think about the scenes of that day, but they kept drifting into his sleeping eyes and kept insisting that he scream at them, silently, one more time. He was alone,…
quarantine 2
Neal was sitting in the break room, still wanting to cry. He had no duties yet, so he was waiting, but he wasn’t sure what for. Vanessa Acardi came into the small room and got herself coffee as stiff as she always was, but that didn’t stop Neal, or the words that tumbled out of…
curse of the magi 33
Jaumet also felt the light sensation of Elia’s fingers on his cheekbones and temples. Again she shot a small pain spell through her fingers. Jaumet blocked it as minimally as he could. “You are Janus Terminus. WAT score: 33. Training: Sigma Kappa.” Randell watched in wonder as a black-ink scorpion sprouted out of Elia’s left…
curse of the magi 32
Randell looked at Elia frantically. “What have you done? He doesn’t recognize me.” Elia nodded. “A confusion spell, make you almost impossible to recognize, but once I put one on Jaumet, he’ll have no trouble recognizing you.” “Well hurry up,” Randell snapped desperately. “My best friend doesn’t know who I am.”
curse of the magi 31
Jaumet watched as a dynamic tattoo snaked over Randell’s face and chest. Thorny vines crawled across his collar bone to cover the unfinished wizard serial number. Randell opened his eyes and Jaumet’s brain was clouded over by temporary confusion. “You look so familiar,” he told the man across from him. “I just can place where…
curse of the magi 30
Randell felt Elia’s fingers as she positioned them on the sides of his face. “WAT score?” She asked. “Never took it.” “Training?” “Pi.” Randell felt a small pain spell make its way through her fingers. He pushed back with a full-strength blocking spell and tried to pull away. Elia held on. “Block it with as…
curse of the magi 29
Meanwhile, Elia had slipped, unnoticed into the bathroom. Hovsep had left a white rag on the counter with a note on it. Take it with you. Elia wasted no time; she wet the rag, wrung it out and rejoined Randell and Jaumet. They had pulled out of their hug and Jaumet was slumped against the…
curse of the magi 28
When Jaumet heard those magical words, he struggled to raise his head and look at their savior, but, as always, Randell was too proud. “We don’t need your help,” he snapped weakly. Elia sat down next to the captive. “Listen, today, that was only the start. They will get those answers out of you or…
amnesia
intro amnesia is a lightweight ttrpg – somewhere between DND and a one shot/one page ttrpg. the world building happens mostly in-game, with the intent of taking some of the storytelling pressure off the DM. it’s intent is to be a collective storytelling experience that is accessible and easy to pick up – even without…
the windy city 1
“Always a well-dressed foolWho wouldn’t spare the rodNever for me”-“Foreigner’s God” by Hozier Colm His fingers flew. Colm was flying, but he wasn’t free. His fingers followed regimented paths, a platoon of soldiers, lining up, striking one at a time, just like they had planned. But one renegade struck out at the wrong time, throwing…
the vice 1
Philo leaned against the ropes of the theater’s curtain. The show was running on the lit stage in front of him. That’s how it always was. Philo stuck to the corner. No one would think about who built the set or who was running the lights. They would watch the actors pantomiming human emotions. They…
the philosopher’s agenda 3
“I just can’t pretend anymore,” he cried, turning back to confront her with the lines of anguish on his brow. She looked at him and stepped slowly out onto the deck; her face as usual held no clue to the inner tumult of emotion ardently felt. “Maybe we don’t have to pretend.” Alfie held his…
the windy city 0
“I was following the packAll swallowed in their coatsWith scarves of red tied round their throatsTo keep their little headsFrom falling in the snowAnd I turned round and there you goAnd Michael you would fallAnd turn the white snow red as strawberriesIn the summertime”-“White Winter Hymnal” by Fleet Foot Foxes SinfiThe caravan was broken. It…
quarantine 0
Part 1 – Breaking the Dragon from Her Cave The Fox Escapes The air was hard. Neal Grover breathed in steel air conditioning and let his heart run under his steel-tipped jaw. First day. He was stationed at the quarantine island. He had heard stories about the terrible disease that raged there, so many different…
curse of the magi 27
Hovsep was pacing his room along the same pattern he always paced it. Back corner, front corner, side middle, back corner. A perfect triangle. There was no thread left on the carpet there. He turned around as the door creaked open. “Elia.” He smiled with half of his mouth. “You’re here.” “It’s good to see…
curse of the magi 26
Elia edged up to the palace gates at 2315. The palace guard gave her a suspicious glare. She glared back. “I’m here to visit Hovsep.” The palace guard laughed. “Very funny, now get out.” “I’m being serious, call him if you want.” The guard raised his eyebrow as he picked up the intercom phone. “Hello.…
pentacle 8
PART 1 – THREE OF SWORDS (cont.) Adrian, who at this point in time was called Alice, was glued to the kitchen chair. Not literally glued, but figuratively, glued by obligation. Held down by the idea that if they got up, they would have failed. Which would have been the worst thing in the world.…
pentacle 7
PART 1 – THREE OF SWORDS (cont.) Adrian and Aiden had retrieved the box. It was smaller than expected and cardboard with “From Bill and Janet” written in thick sharpie on the top. The scrawling script was clearly Bahir’s. Adrian, once again, had gone numb and was staring that the box, but not really at…
pentacle 6
PART 1 – THREE OF SWORDS (cont.) Adrian was sitting in the middle of Bahir’s bed. They hadn’t moved in nearly five minutes. Aiden was nonchalantly skimming the belongings strewn across the dead man’s desk. A pen was thrown across a half-finished notebook page. An empty coffee mug sat to the left. As if someone…
pipe bomb dream 0
She tips her coffee back and forth. Stopping it right before it spills. “It just wasn’t working,” he says. “You understand, right?” Tip forward. Tip back. Her fork has one bent tine. “Sure.” “Abby’s a nice girl,” Lucas says. Nice girl. Pale girl. Paler in his red sheets. “I’m sure.” He leans forward. Trying to…
prelude
The campfire flickered around the feet of the rebels, and shadows flashed over their faces. Their leader propped his chin on his palm, his elbow on his spindly knee. “For years, the Wizards have been oppressed,” he started, “forced to kiss the asses of the untalented, unimpressive humans that have controlled us. Well, no longer.…
pentacle 5
PART 1 – THREE OF SWORDS (cont.) Angel leaned forward. “There is one thing though,” she said. Abby gave her a one-sided smile. “Okay, what is it?” “They’re saying that Bahir’s is really Adrian’s uncle” she revealed. Abby gave her a blank look. Angel sighed. “Oh I know, of course he is. No, what I…
pentacle 4
PART 1 – THREE OF SWORDS (cont.) Joyce met Adrian and Aiden at Bahir’s house. Typically in a professional setting, Joyce was never anything but Dr. O’Connor. She hadn’t spend 5 years on her Ph.D. to be called Joyce. But for Bahir and his neiphling, and only for Bahir and his neiphling, she was Joyce,…
curse of the magi 25
“Hovsep!” Elia answered. “Why haven’t you called before?” Hovsep sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m a dick, but that’s not important now.” “Right, sorry. Go ahead.” Hovsep took a shaky breath. “I need you to help me break out these captives.” “Wizards?” “Yes. Will you?” Elia was silent. Hovsep’s heartbeat pounded into his eardrums. “Of course.” The…
curse of the magi 24
Hovsep held his head in his scarred hands. He shouldn’t care. He should tell himself that these kids deserved it. He would have done that a long time ago, before he met Elia. He heard her voice now. Filling his head with her trembling pain, her tremblingdarkness. I never meant to hurt them. But they…
curse of the magi 23
Randell glared at his captors. He threw every spell and curse he could remember into his human binds, but they all had on gloves lined with pure silver. They took the spells and pulled at his energy, like dead skin sloughing off. By the time they dumped him on the cold hard cement floor, he…
curse of the magi 22
Hovsep hesitated. He wouldn’t get the answers, not in a way that would allow him to sleep after the fact. But he had to keep going, or at least keep up a show. He leaned in close to the prisoner’s ear. “I can do much worse, and I will. I’ll give you one last chance.”…
curse of the magi 21
And now Jaumet felt the pain. It didn’t strike his back like it had Randell’s. It snaked around his arms and legs and squeezed. Threatened to squeeze the life out of him, but it wouldn’t loosen the answers. He didn’t betray. Jaumet never betrayed. But he still felt the pain. His teeth clenched, but they…
curse of the magi 20
Hovsep slammed into the morning. He was awake. Goddammit. He was awake. There was no reason to pour cold water on his head, but that’s what had happened, and now he was dripping wet and fucking cold. His overseer growled at him. “Get up, you’re not paid to sleep.” Hovsep glared back and almost reminded…
curse of the magi 19
“The subject, Romulus Lacheses has committed severe atrocity against this institution and the people in it. He has received the thrice-bled pain spell and will be exiled from civil society for life. Leave now if you agree with this punishment.” Randell’s head snapped up. They could save them, if they stayed. They would stay. He…
curse of the magi 18
Randell could barely raise his head. His back was hot sticky and red. But it wasn’t over yet. He was still alive. They would deal the final blow, and it would be over. Randell would be gone, dead to everyone who had known him. He pulled his arms into his chest and painfully struggled to…
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Nihilistic Porcupine 