Daily writing prompts from June 9th, 2008 to December 31st, 2022
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Sunday May 13th, 2018
The exercise: Write about: hiding in my eyes. Because that's what Miles said the other day, with only the slightest indication that he might be joking, when he squeezed his eyes shut.
I've had a fairly quiet weekend, which is probably good as I have a barbecue and a wedding next weekend, so I'm likely to be oversocialised and grumpy afterwards. I think I miss Kiev a little, but Malta's a pretty good place to be as well :) Max comes out with some neat little lines -- and it's very nice that you can use them as prompts too! For today though I'm returning to another Protagonize story you created, Marc.
Hiding in my eyes The tour guides at Natural Selection's Museum of Evolution were on their coffee break. They sat around on low, leather-covered cubes that were called stools in the designer-furniture catalogue and sipped Colombian coffee from china cups. Apart from the occasional slurp, silence ruled in the little, white-walled room. A bell dinged in the distance and each guide downed their coffee, and went back to their post. -------------- "This is Thomason's Iridescent Beholder," said Guide Murphy. The tour consisted of two spotty children who looked rather too young to have acne, a grandmother whose milky eyes suggested cataracts, and a middle-aged man wearing a muu-muu. "It has a large central eye, and a brightly-coloured feathered body. Initial stories from explorers reported it flying, or floating, through the air at head-height, but as you can see it does in fact rather long, spindly legs. It ran rapidly, like an Emu or an Ostrich." He paused and manipulated a lever at the side of the cabinet holding the beholder. "When angry it would make itself bigger, as I'm showing you now, by throwing out it's secondary eyes, each of which is on a flexible eyestalk that can reach up to 8 metres out from its body." The children whimpered a little and clung to each other, while the grandmother stared blindly at the wall. "I heard it petrified people," said the middle-aged man. "It would definitely have been very scary," said Murphy. "You would definitely expect a deer-in-the-headlights reaction from prey." "No, petrified, like, turned to stone," said the man. "Like the medusa." "Like Medusa," corrected Murphy absently. "No, converting carbon to silicon just by looking at someone isn't poss... was never developed by the Beholders." "Oh." The man looked grumpy. "Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder," said the grandmother softly. "If there's beauty there it's hiding in its eyes," said the middle-aged man. "There's nowhere else for it." "Actually," said Murphy. "What's hiding in its eyes is its mouth. It would use the eyestalks to entangle its prey and draw them into the central eye, which then moves out of the way to reveal a sharp-toothed maw." "Stop it!" said the grandmother, looking at the middle-aged man. "You'll scare the chicken-pox off my grandchildren." "That's chicken pox?" said Murphy, staring at the spotty kids.
I've had a fairly quiet weekend, which is probably good as I have a barbecue and a wedding next weekend, so I'm likely to be oversocialised and grumpy afterwards. I think I miss Kiev a little, but Malta's a pretty good place to be as well :)
ReplyDeleteMax comes out with some neat little lines -- and it's very nice that you can use them as prompts too!
For today though I'm returning to another Protagonize story you created, Marc.
Hiding in my eyes
The tour guides at Natural Selection's Museum of Evolution were on their coffee break. They sat around on low, leather-covered cubes that were called stools in the designer-furniture catalogue and sipped Colombian coffee from china cups. Apart from the occasional slurp, silence ruled in the little, white-walled room.
A bell dinged in the distance and each guide downed their coffee, and went back to their post.
--------------
"This is Thomason's Iridescent Beholder," said Guide Murphy. The tour consisted of two spotty children who looked rather too young to have acne, a grandmother whose milky eyes suggested cataracts, and a middle-aged man wearing a muu-muu. "It has a large central eye, and a brightly-coloured feathered body. Initial stories from explorers reported it flying, or floating, through the air at head-height, but as you can see it does in fact rather long, spindly legs. It ran rapidly, like an Emu or an Ostrich."
He paused and manipulated a lever at the side of the cabinet holding the beholder. "When angry it would make itself bigger, as I'm showing you now, by throwing out it's secondary eyes, each of which is on a flexible eyestalk that can reach up to 8 metres out from its body."
The children whimpered a little and clung to each other, while the grandmother stared blindly at the wall.
"I heard it petrified people," said the middle-aged man.
"It would definitely have been very scary," said Murphy. "You would definitely expect a deer-in-the-headlights reaction from prey."
"No, petrified, like, turned to stone," said the man. "Like the medusa."
"Like Medusa," corrected Murphy absently. "No, converting carbon to silicon just by looking at someone isn't poss... was never developed by the Beholders."
"Oh." The man looked grumpy.
"Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder," said the grandmother softly.
"If there's beauty there it's hiding in its eyes," said the middle-aged man. "There's nowhere else for it."
"Actually," said Murphy. "What's hiding in its eyes is its mouth. It would use the eyestalks to entangle its prey and draw them into the central eye, which then moves out of the way to reveal a sharp-toothed maw."
"Stop it!" said the grandmother, looking at the middle-aged man. "You'll scare the chicken-pox off my grandchildren."
"That's chicken pox?" said Murphy, staring at the spotty kids.
I know you're there
ReplyDeleteDon't play games with me
Hiding in my eyes
Disappearing round the corner
Don't play games with me
You wouldn't go away
Disappearing round the corner
Breathing down my neck
You wouldn't go away
Leaving me alone
Breathing down my neck
Come back, come back, I know you're there!
Don't go leaving me alone
Don't play games with me
Come back, come back, I know you're there
Hiding in my eyes.
Greg - it was Miles this time around, but yes Max is full of interesting turns of phrase as well :)
ReplyDeleteHah, I remember this place, now that you've brought it back around! Thank you for the trip down memory lane, and all the laughs that came with it :D
Morganna - this is really nicely done. Love the flow and use of repeating lines. Very effective and enjoyable :)