FF – Master and Student

January 4, 2017 72 comments

Here is my post for Friday Fictioneers, the 100 word writing challenge hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo comes from Sandra Crook.

A bit of a silly story this week but once I got it in my head I couldn’t think of anything else. It looked to me like one of those elaborate things you set up in that game “Mousetrap”.

To read the other stories, click on the blue froggy.

Copyright Sandra Crook

Copyright Sandra Crook

 

“How does it work, Master?”

“Observe. He approaches. The door opens…”

Clunk

“… loosing the ball bearing to roll down the plank, triggering the mechanism…”

Rumble

“… the cog turns…”

Griiiind

“… releasing the flour above…”

Cough cough

“… thus blocking out the light…”

Huh?

“… our target lights a match…”

Scrape

“… igniting the flour particles…”

Whoomp!

“… blowing him to pieces.”

Aaaarggggh!

“Couldn’t we have just blown his brains out with a sawn-off shotgun, Sensei?”

“Finesse, young Padawan. Beauty, elegance. That is why I am the Master, and you, the student. Now, go upstairs and scrape him off the carpet.”

 

Sharing My World 2016 Week 52

January 1, 2017 41 comments

Here is my post for Cee’s Share Your World. It seems a bit odd doing “2016 Week 52” in 2017. Maybe I should have done it yesterday.

share-your-world2

What’s your favourite ice-cream flavor?
I’m a big fan of many many ice cream flavours! I think one of my favourites is a mascarpone one by Carte D’Or (Walls). I like the red berry sauce. I also like black cherry flavour.

If you were to treat yourself to the “finer things” what would you treat yourself to?
Maybe quality food – decent meats, cheese and so on. Yesterday I baked a load of cupcakes, some for me, some to take to give to my parents and brother later on today. They don’t look great (first time I’ve made icing!) but I’m sure they taste okay. Some of them have black cherry jam in (the ones with the strange dark lines)!

cupcakes

These ones are all for me! The ones I’m taking away are already boxed up.

Have you ever been drunk?
Yes.

Complete this sentence: My favourite supposedly guilty pleasure is…
Tech stuff. Even when I don’t really need it. A couple of weeks ago I put in a home alarm system and now I’m considering an Amazon Echo thing and some WeMo Wi-Fi plugs so I control my house with voice commands 🙂

Happy New Year to everyone!

 

Categories: About draliman Tags:

FF – Adapt or Die

December 28, 2016 65 comments

Here is my story for Friday Fictioneers, the weekly 100 word story prompt hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo comes from Shaktiki Sharma.

I was going to do a Christmassy one, maybe with Santa in it, but the first thing this photo said to me was “death in the shadows” 🙂

To read this week’s other stories, click on the blue froggy.

Copyright Shaktiki Sharma

Copyright Shaktiki Sharma

 

A scream, swiftly silenced, rang through the darkness. The humans shuddered and gathered closer to the light. Since the Awakening, things waited in the shadows.

They said there are no monsters.

They were wrong.

Graduk smiled to itself, pouring more energy into its bio-luminescent appendages. Its glow increased, drawing more of the bipeds close. “Adapt or die” was a favourite saying amongst them, it had heard. Those of its brethren, lurking in the dark places waiting for an occasional foolish meal, had not adapted.

Graduk had.

It increased its glow still more and awaited the unsuspecting feast.

 

Sharing My World 2015 Week 51 Holiday Edition

December 25, 2016 55 comments

Here is my post for Cee’s Share Your World series.

share-your-world2

What is your favourite holiday?
Christmas, I guess. There are only two, really. Christmas and Easter. Unless you count Bank Holidays, and they’re just days off work.

What types of food is associated with your holiday?
The traditional turkey and trimmings. I always buy some nice cheese and meat. And there’s always lots of chocolate of course. If you get through Christmas without putting on at least 10lbs it’s not really Christmas, is it?

I found this year that I have made a “terrible miscalculation”. After wrapping everything, I find that I “accidentally” bought far too many boxes of chocolates and chocolate biscuits.

sparechocolates

 

What a mistake to make. I guess I’ll just have to suck it up and eat them all myself. Bwahahaha nom nom nom.

Do you travel for your holiday?
I’m off to my parents’ later today and then to my brother’s. They all live in town about 2 miles apart, and about 10 miles from me.

Is it a religious or spiritual holiday?
Religious, I guess. The early Christian Church decided it needed a day to celebrate Jesus’ birthday. Since nobody knows quite when He was born, the Church chose the feast of Saturnalia in what is now called “December”, hoping, I guess, that the pagans would gradually come across to Christianity since they were having a bit of a knees up around that time anyway.

Is there a gift exchange?
Oh yes indeedy 🙂

How long does the celebration last?
For me, a day or so. For the shops, from just after Halloween (so early November) until around mid-January. At that point the shops switch to Easter-mode and start filling the shelves with Easter bunnies.

 

Merry Christmas everybody 🙂

Categories: About draliman

FF – A Pie They Died For

December 21, 2016 68 comments

Here is my happy jolly Christmas offering for Friday Fictioneers, the weekly 100 word photo prompt hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Roger Bultot.

To read this week’s other stories, click on the blue froggy.

diner-roger-bultot

Copyright Roger Bultot

 

“Hey, look, I love UV black light, let’s go in.”

“Yeah, it’s such a great colour!”

“And it shows up all sorts of stains and blood and Oh. My. God. What the Hell happened here? Waitress?”

“Good evening! Coffee? Pie?”

“What happened, Miss?”

“Ooh, a big grisly murder. A whole bus-load of tourists. And they never found the bodies!”

“Never found the bodies?”

“No. Not a single one!”

“Wow. Weird. I wonder what happened to them? Anyway, I guess we’ll have a couple of coffees. And a slice of pie with two forks, please. ‘Mystery meat pie’. Sounds tasty!”

 

Sharing My World 2016 Week 50

December 18, 2016 36 comments

Here is my post for Cee’s Share Your World.

share-your-world2

What is your favourite smell? What memory does it remind you of?
Bacon cooking. It reminds me of food!

What type of pet do you have or want to have?
I recently had a pet mouse. I called him Moby.

Well, I say “pet”. He was living under the fridge. I bought a couple of traps. Snap squish!

Only joking! Here is Moby. Sorry about the picture quality.

moby1

I drove Moby out to the local owl sanctuary and let him go.

Only joking!

It was the local cats’ home.

Only joking!

I let him go in the countryside.

Yesterday Moby II joined him. Here is Moby II.

moby2

I’d just got back from the work Christmas party at 23:30 (40 miles away) and I was not impressed that I had to drive out into the country again. But you mustn’t leave mousies in the trap too long or they get stressed. Hopefully the Mobys will find each other.

Are you usually late, early, or right on time?
I’m always early. I don’t like to be late.

For recharging, would you rather meditate, swim, walk, listen to music, write, read, yoga, qigong, other?
I plug myself in. I’m a robot! WE ARE LIVING AMONG YOU.

Just kidding.

Or am I? AM I?

 

Categories: About draliman Tags:

FF – Poor Ned

December 14, 2016 60 comments

Here is my story for the 100 word flash fiction challenge Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle. This week she also provided the photo.

To read the other stories for this week, click the blue froggy.


 

“Ugh. What the MyLittlePony is this?”

“Winter feed. Not a fan?”

“Neigh.”

“Get used to it. The grass is all wet and stuff so we get this instead.”

“What’re these hard bits?”

“Nutritional Supplement Number 87. Tasty. Ned’ll tell you. Where is Ned, anyway?”

“Last I saw, vet was with him. He didn’t look well.”

“Hope he’s okay.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine. So what’s this under this patch of hay? Looks like a… a… face…”

“Let me see… oh. Oh dear.”

“What? What?”

“It’s Ned. Guess he didn’t make it. Tuck in, he always liked to be useful!”

 

Sharing My World 2016 Week 49

December 11, 2016 26 comments

Here is my post for Cee’s Share Your World.

share-your-world2

What do you value most in a friendship?
Ooh, really huge expensive birthday presents. Wait, reading that back to myself, it sounds a bit mercenary. Someone who listens and doesn’t judge. There you go, that’s better.

Do you prefer eating the frosting of the cake or the cupcake first?  Do you prefer a specific flavour?
I eat both at the same time. They’re designed to complement each other, and they do! Any flavour is good for me.

Have you ever been in a submarine?  If you haven’t, would you want to?
I seem to remember going in one a long time ago. It was one of those decommissioned ones from years ago for people to walk around, so it didn’t have any atomic torpedoes or anything on it. It was also on the water rather than under it. I quite like enclosed spaces, but I’m not so sure I would like being under all that water as well.

If 100 people your age were chosen at random, how many do you think you’d find leading a more satisfying life than yours?
Oh, golly gosh, cor blimey and whatnot, what a question! Sounds like something you’d be asked in a psych evaluation. I’m going to play it safe and say 50.

Categories: About draliman Tags:

FF – Daytime at Midnight

December 7, 2016 61 comments

Here is my post for Friday Fictioneers, the 100 word story prompt hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by her long-time friend Lucy Fridkin.

To read this week’s other stories, click on the blue froggy.


lucy-sol

Copyright Lucy Fridkin

 

Frederick stared down at the great Arks below. Though after midnight the light from the approaching solar storm reflected off the water, casting shadows which danced across the waves. Soon the Arks would set sail; later they would dive to the depths of the ocean, protecting the world’s inhabitants inside hardened steel shells…

“What’re you doing?”

“Oh, just looking at the bay, dreaming up a story.”

“Come inside. The solar storm will be here soon. We want to be together at the end, to say goodbye.”

“Okay. Arks would’ve been good.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, just thinking out loud.”

 

Sharing My World 2016 Week 48

December 4, 2016 26 comments

Here is my post for Cee’s Share Your World. Week 48 already, blimey!

share-your-world2

Do you prefer eating foods with nuts or no nuts?
No nuts for me. Though funnily enough I really like chocolate with a praline filling. I just Googled “praline” and as I suspected, it has nuts in!

If someone made a movie of your life would it be a drama, a comedy, a romantic-comedy, action film, or science fiction?
It would be a flop, I expect. Frightfully boring and whatnot.

Who talks real sense to you?
Me! I do. It probably isn’t good sense but it always makes sense to me at the time. Otherwise I wouldn’t be saying it to myself.

Do you have a favourite board game?
Board game? Bored game more like! Haha. Hahahaha. Ahem.

Just kidding. Though I prefer video games. Monopoly is okay. I like games where I don’t like to think. Like Trivial Pursuit – you either know it or you don’t. I do enough thinking at work, thanks. I expect we’ll be playing some games around Christmas time!

Categories: About draliman Tags: