Sunday September 16th, 2018

The exercise:

Write about something which is: brazen.

2 comments:

Greg said...

Brazen is an interesting choice for a prompt and I would definitely be interested to know what put that word in your mind! In other news I've added to Empires now, the extra time to think at the weekend definitely helps. I think I've sorted out Ana and Stacey and provided direction for our last three months... but correct me where I'm wrong :)

Brazen
At first glance Lord Derby thought the Witnesses were just pillars of coral: they were some brazen blend of copper and pink and they twisted as they rose skywards. Then he took another step forward and they writhed like trapped jellyfish, changing shape, pulling parts in and pushing parts out and gyrating about a central axis. He froze, watching, until they'd finished. Then the nearest one, who looked exactly as he remembered the living Dignity, spoke to him.
The voice was hers, exactly, but seemed to come from all around him, and he felt an odd pressure as though the words had weight. "Ernest, you came too late. All you can do now is gloat over my bones."
Across the path from her, David Suture looked at him with scorn written all over his face. "Milord," and there was sarcasm dripping from every syllable, "you are so proficient now you'd leave me behind when going to Carcosa? When you value me so little, I should go and sell my body for pennies to the surgeons, I suppose."
Next to Dignity a third Witness, a school-teacher from Ernest's childhood lifted a long ruler, used for striking the hands of unruly pupil, as though measuring Ernest's height. "My, how you've grown, Derby," he said. "And yet, I remember you wetting yourself in my schoolroom. In front of the whole class. Are you grown out of that yet?" To his horror Lord Derby felt a sudden hot pressure in his bladder, and his face flushed with a combination of panic and embarrassment.
"Fourteen on each side," whispered Tomasz. Silent tears were inching down his face.
"You could rape my corpse," said Dignity. A brazen hand raised, and brushed away an invisible tear. "I couldn't say no, could I?"
"If you pick the right surgeon you could use my body parts in ritual invocations," said David Suture. "I'm sure that Elizabeth would show you how."
Next to him Elizabeth opened huge eyes and reached out hands imploringly. "You'll be the demon-expert when you return," she said. "I'll be useless next to the magnificent Lord Derby. I'll return to the crushing poverty from whence I came."
"Do you see Dignity talking to me?" asked Lord Derby. The Witnesses beyond raised their voices suddenly, and Tomasz and Samual had to shout to be heard over the clamour.
"No, milord."
"No."
"It would have been easier if you did," said Lord Derby, and the Witnesses let him speak. "Then only one of us would suffer humiliation on this walk. Why are they called Witnesses, Tomasz?"
"Because we have witnessed every secret you have," replied Elizabeth before Tomasz could speak. "You know the kernel of truth in everything we say."
"This is going to be a long walk, milord," muttered Samual. "We should get started."

Marc said...

Greg - just one of the basketball kids at the community centre. Came to the front desk to ask for a ball (we give out balls for collateral like wallets and passes and shoes and things like that) and I asked, after taking his street shoes, if he had a pass (because he had definitely not paid anything yet). He replied that his pass... er, money was with his stuff in the gym and that he'd go get it, so I held on to his shoes and waited.

He came back a minute later to say he didn't have any money on him so he'd just take his shoes back. I said okay without commenting further... then watched on the monitor as he returned to the gym to play with his friends. Without paying the drop-in fee.

The balls on some of these kids, man.

Anyway. Saw your addition to Empires. Will try to get a follow up figured out this weekend.

Oof, that's a hell of an introduction to the witnesses. A very long walk indeed, Samual.