The exercise:
With a nod of thanks to Greg for reminding me about this one, today we return to the Blocks prompt. Looking back at the last time I used this prompt, I'm beginning to think that Greg will be the only reason I ever use it...
Anyway. Your writing today shall include the words: violin, guitar, sun.
5 comments:
I think it's a useful fall-back prompt for when ideas aren't flowing as rapidly as usual :) I have also gone back through the Blocks prompts, and today we shall revisit Uruk. Given that there are two musical instruments in the prompt today are either of Max or Miles looking like they're being inspired to be musicians?
Violin, guitar, sun
"Eggs of Cholondra!" swore Uruk, much less quietly than he should have done. Somewhere in the corridor behind him the monstrous owl-bear shrieked, an eerie disturbing noise produced by a creature trying to growl through a beak. The burgundy-robed, smelly man tending the cages of bizarrely mutated animals turned round, and started quite strongly.
"Not today thank-you," he said.
"What?" Uruk's palms were sweating and the long bone he'd been poking the nest with didn't feel like a good weapon for murdering unknown mages.
"Not today thank-you."
"What not today?" Surely, Uruk thought, the old man couldn't be requesting a postponement of his death.
"Eggs of Cholondra. I have plenty."
Both men relaxed unconsciously as they tried to make sense of what the other was saying. Behind the wall the Owl-bear howl-squeaked again and there was a noise like something big and heavy stomping on a lot of dry, brittle bones.
"Eggs of Cholondra," said Uruk at last. "They're the testicles of the sun-god Cholondra, right?"
The mage shook his head, a faint cloud of dandruff flying up into the air and limning his head like a halo. "Cholondra is the taxonomic name of the goatfish," he said. "They look a little bit like goats but have legs more like a centipede. Oh, and they live in water, obviously. So they spawn hundreds of eggs at a time."
"What do you use them for?" asked Uruk. He was pretty sure that he'd always been told at school that Cholondra was the sun-god, usually shown chasing nymphs in meadows where dryads played violins and satyrs strummed guitars. Though school has, admittedly, lasted only three months before the teacher got eaten by a Fisk, and the teacher had been a bit fond of whiskey.
"Fry them and serve them on toast with butter and anchovy paste," said the mage. "Oh, and you can raise goatfish from them too, if you like."
"Do you eat goatfish too?"
"Oh no! Not worth the effort; the flesh is mealy and tends to fall apart if overcooked, which is ridiculously easy to do. You can make a nice piano from goatfish bone though."
Uruk nodded. "Valuable?" he asked.
"Very; goatfish are a bugger to hunt. It's all though legs you see, you think you've got them and then they're running up your sleeve and over your stomach under your clothes." The old man sighed. "Now, why is the mummy owl-bear out there sounding so upset?"
A cold chill crept down Uruk's spine.
The violin and the
Guitar sat out in the sun
Enjoying the warmth
Until they cracked.
Greg - yeah, but it appears that this is an idea that doesn't flow either :P
Both of the boys enjoy making music. Max still brings out the djembes and ukulele on a fairy regular basis and Miles is always happy to join in. I think they're both more into dancing to music than playing it though.
Ah, I remember Uruk! Thank you for bringing him back round again! And I quite enjoyed the back and forth here, in particular the shared confusion and then the gradual progress toward that final, inevitable question from the mage :)
Morganna - that's a peaceful, lovely little scene you've painted for us. Thank you :)
There once was a man that played a guitar. His wife played the violin. They loved to play in the sun.
KC - a lovely little scene :)
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