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ghost crow
Jul 9, 2015

by Nyc_Tattoo
First timer, I'm in. I'll take a flash rule as well :)

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ghost crow
Jul 9, 2015

by Nyc_Tattoo

crabrock posted:

if anybody needs some help kickstarting their brain, i will give additional THESIS FLASHRULES in your given subject, but only if you've already been assigned one. they will be hard.

Can I get one of these for history?

ghost crow
Jul 9, 2015

by Nyc_Tattoo
Losertown (1101 words)

Claudia was beginning to regret her choice in using ghosts for a primary source. It was amazing how long they could talk once such inconvenient needs such as breathing were out of the way. The one in front of her had been talking for close to an hour. He didn’t seem to notice she had stopped taking notes ten minutes ago.

“You see it was completely unfair. Bringing dragons to a war, who have ever heard of such a thing? Very ungentlemanly I say –“

“I think that will be enough for today.” Claudia interrupted. The last thing she needed was for him to go on another tirade about the drat dragons. “We can continue tomorrow at the same time if that’s alright with you, uh, Gligor…”

“The Terrible. Gligor the Terrible.”

“Right. Gligor the Terrible.” She wrote the name at the end of her notes and closed the notebook pointedly.

“Well alright then.” He looked disappointed, or at least as disappointed as someone could look with an axe in the middle of his face, but dissipated without further argument.

Claudia sighed and rubbed her eye. Close to five hours in total listening to bitter droning ghosts and she still was only halfway through her history thesis. This better get her graduation with honors.

“I don’t know how you can listen to those old gas bags without falling asleep.”

Claudia jumped in surprise and looked up at Alicia. Alicia’s antennas waved in amusement as Claudia glared at her.

“Oh don’t give me that look. Come on one eye we’re going to be late for alchemy.”

Claudia stood up and groaned as she flexed muscles tense from writing notes for hours.

“I’m going to die of boredom and become a ghost myself if I have to listen to much more.” She admitted.

“I don’t know why you couldn’t do your history thesis on something normal like magic law or dragons.”

“I wanted to do something inventive. Nobody thinks to write about the losers in history.”

“Gee given how bitter and boring the losers are I wonder why no one wanted to write about them.” Claudia rolled her eye but didn’t say anything as she followed Alicia to class.

****

“Come on just go up and say something to him.”

“I don’t want to. It’d be too embarrassing.”

“Oh come on he’s just Jeremy not the freakin’ lead singer of Spook Boys.”

“He doesn’t even know I exist Alicia, what’s the point?”

“Well how is he supposed to know who you are if you don’t at least try to talk to him?”

Claudia remained stubborn. It’s not like he would even give her the time of day even if she talked to him. Jeremy was popular and did cool things like get his horns pierced and spell his eyes to change color depending on the weather. Claudia was just…well Claudia. Better just to try and forget about him.

Later though, when she caught Sarah Mantell and Jeremy kissing in the courtyard outside the alchemy classroom, she felt as though someone had punched her in the gut.

***

…The battle of Dagor’s Keep was a turning point in the … and was the first time a king had ever employed dragon mercenaries in a war against a neighboring kingdom...

What did Jeremy even see in Sarah? She wasn’t particularly smart or interesting. She wasn’t even that pretty.

…I have decided to concentrate on the testimony…writing down for the first time the oral history of the ghosts who fought and died on the wrong side on that fateful day…

Sarah thought she was all that because her parents finally got the money to remove that witch’s hex from her nose. All she did was preen and show off how normal looking her face is now. She was, in Claudia’s informed opinion, deeply boring.

…Gligor the Terrible questioned the ethics of using dragon mercenaries in war, calling it ‘ungentlemanly’ and ‘unfair’…it is important to have a multitude of viewpoints in historical discourse…

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that boring Sarah got Jeremy. Claudia got perfect marks. She was slated to go to one of the best magical academies in the country when she graduated high school.

It wasn’t fair.

***
“I mean really Sarah doesn’t even look that much better with her new nose anyways. Personally I thought the pig nose suited her.” Claudia said before she bit into her sandwich. She sat with Alicia in the shade of their favorite tree on campus, where they always ate lunch.

“Uh huh.” Alicia said noncommittally, crunching seeds with her mandibles.

“I mean at least she wasn’t a stuck up bitch with her old nose. Who does she think she is, thinking she is good enough for Jeremy?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Claudia frowned. “You don’t sound like you care very much.”

Alicia clacked her mandibles in frustration. “Witch’s tits Claudia why should I care? You didn’t even want to talk to Jeremy and now you’re angry because he’s with some other girl? All you’ve been doing the past couple of days have been bitching and moaning.”

“You’re supposed to be my friend. You’re supposed to care.” Claudia said bitterly.

“I am your friend. But it’s hard to listen to you when you’re going on like…like…”

“Like what? Like a loser?” Claudia got up and threw her sandwich in the trash.

“Claudia I didn’t say –“

Claudia was already gone.

***

Claudia didn’t talk to Alicia for days. Instead she holed up in the library to work on her thesis every free moment she had.

Her head filled with the words of fallen soldiers, bitter generals, anguished knights. She felt like she understood them. It was hard being the unnoticed ones, the ones people don’t write books about or care about.

I wonder why no one wanted to write about them.

Claudia shook her head. Alicia didn’t understand. She had no reason to be bitter, she would never be alone like Claudia was.

One day at the library Claudia fell asleep. She dreamt there were a line of ghosts, and she was at the front. She spoke bitterly to the student in front of her.

“It’s not fair, Sarah was a stuck up bitch, it wasn’t fair, why should she get Jeremy…”

Claudia jerked awake in cold sweat. poo poo. Had she been that much of an rear end? She hastily gathered up her things and left the library.

***

The next day Claudia stuck her chin up and walked through the halls. She stopped in front of Jeremy and stuck out her hand.

“Hi I’m Claudia, we have alchemy together.”

ghost crow
Jul 9, 2015

by Nyc_Tattoo
I'm in.

ghost crow
Jul 9, 2015

by Nyc_Tattoo
In with a :toxx:

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ghost crow
Jul 9, 2015

by Nyc_Tattoo
Obelisk
925 words

Amelia was blinded by white. The motionless noon sun bore down into her like an angry watcher, reflecting off white dunes that stretched into the horizon. She winced and turned on the shades in her helmet as she climbed out of the shuttle.

She clicked on her comm device. “Alright I’ve landed.”

A burst of static and Tala’s voice was in her ear “Sweet okay. I’ve uploaded the coordinates to the artifact in your helmet. It shouldn’t be too far with the dragonfly.”

Amelia looked around. There was no plant or animal life as far as she could see, just the dazzlingly endless dunes and the oppressive eye of the sun above.

“Are you sure there’s anything here? Seems pretty barren to me.”

“This is definitely the place. Just as the broker described. Look babe you’re going to have to be quick. Who knows who else has been tipped off about this place? Just get to the artifact, collect what you can and get back to the shuttle as quickly as you can.”

“Alright.”

“I’ll see you soon.” Another burst of static and Tala was gone.

Amelia unfurled the dragonfly from its case. The wings snapped open and thrummed with power. She climbed in and took off in the direction her navigational system pointed her too.

***

An hour later she saw her first glimpse of the obelisk.

At first it was just a black point on the horizon. As she got closer it resolved into an intimidating structure, its form vividly black against the white of the landscape. She guessed it was about two or three hours away by dragonfly, and it was massive.

“Tala how the hell are we supposed to get this thing onto the ship?”

“Don’t worry, we only need a sample from it. The buyer isn’t interested in the structure. How far are you?”

“About three hours I –“ Amelia thought she saw a dark form in her periphery. She looked to the left but saw only the white dunes passing by. There were no shadows.

“Amelia are you there?”

“Yeah sorry I just thought I saw something –“

She felt something press against her back and gasped. She veered the dragonfly up sharply in surprise. It whined with the effort and then fell silent altogether. The horizon tilted and she only had time to give one small shout of surprise before her back slammed into the sand.

***

Amelia didn’t know how long she was out for. She became aware of blinding light that resolved itself as the sun glaring down into her visor. She coughed and turned over. She could see the dragonfly in front of her half buried in the sand. It was broken.

“poo poo. poo poo.” She wheezed. Her helmet was undamaged but her mouth felt dry and parched. She struggled to her feet.

“Tala? Tala are you there?” She was met with static. Her comm was down. A quick check showed her nav system was gone as well.

The obelisk loomed in front of her, an ominous landmark. She thought she could hike to it. Tala would surely send the other shuttle to try and find her.

She got up, checking her rations. She took a sip of precious water and started trudging up a dune.

***
There was no wind or clouds. The sun was still, bearing down on her with an oppressive heat. The obelisk seemed to peer at her. She couldn’t tell if she was getting closer to it. There was no sound but Amelia thought she could hear a deep hum emanating from the ground. It seemed to seep into her bones. She caught herself humming along with it.

She didn’t know how long she walked when she finally realized she needed some rest. The harsh sunlight left no indication of time or place. Only the obelisk slowly growing larger gave her any idea that she was moving. She set up her tent and crawled inside and fell into fitful sleep.

***
Even with the tent she felt stripped and bared by the sun. It seemed to pierce her very being, entering every crevasse of her body. She dreamed she was bleached and small and white and swallowed by the landscape. She dreamed of an obelisk so dark it seemed to absorb all light that touched it. It seemed to bulge out in the middle, almost as if it was gestating. The bulge rippled and expanded until with a wet plop a dark fetal form was expelled from it.

The form got up and walked to her tent. It slipped inside and pressed itself against her. It sent a probing alien tongue into her ear, its fingers sinking into her skin.

Amelia jerked awake in a cold sweat. Her tongue felt swollen in her mouth. She felt like she had dry cotton stuffed in her mouth.

***

She walked until her feet cracked and bled inside her suit. She walked and could not stop walking. The hum had reached deep inside her body, propelling her forward, allowing no rest. She was almost crawling when she reached the obelisk.

It was so dark it seemed to absorb light inside of it. It rippled as if it was waiting. For her.

“I’m sorry Tala.” She croaked. She placed her hands against the warm stone and watched as they slowly sank inside.

When Tala touched down in the shuttle there were only the dunes and the sun and the obelisk in front of her. It bulged in the middle as if gestating.

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