Word: Yare

 

yare

[ yair or, especially for 1, 2, yahr}

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adjective, yar·er, yar·est.

quick; agile; lively.

(of a ship) quick to the helm; easily handled or maneuvered.

Archaic.

1. ready; prepared.
2. nimble; quick.

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               Paul had no idea what was going on. It should have been so easy. See a scrawny guy with a woman who was way out of his league, get the girl, go home and have some fun with her. He had not expected the guy to have a backbone. Paul was easily twice the guy’s size, and had arms bigger than the little man’s legs. The guy should have turned tail and ran immediately.

               But the guy had chosen to fight for some reason. Paul had thought it would be an easy win. He could lay out guys just as big as he was. But that was not what happened. The guy was, well, not winning exactly, but not losing either.

               Paul was swinging with everything he had. The smaller guy was dancing around his punches like some kind of ballet dancer. He was actually laughing at Paul the entire time. Laughing! Who did that in a fight? He had been in a lot of fights, and he’d never seen anyone laughing. Why was he laughing? His punches were like butterfly farts. The little guy wasn’t even attacking a lot. He spent all his time dodging.

               Was that his plan? Dodge until Paul just got too tired to do anything? That could be it. But Paul had a lot of stamina. He could keep punching for almost an hour before he would really need a break.  The little guy was moving pretty damned quick too, so he would also get tired eventually.

               Paul glanced at the reason for the fight. The woman was clearly enjoying herself. Her eyes were glued to her date, and she was biting her lower lip. God damn, what did this scrawny guy do to get a babe like her? Well, he could ask her once he finally landed a hit on the guy. If he landed a hit.

               Suddenly, the woman spoke up. “Kyle, baby, stop playing with him. I want to go to bed already.”

               The man, Kyle, apparently, answered her like they were strolling in the park. “Well, if you say so. Too bad, this was just starting the get fun.”

               Kyle began moving differently. He stopped dancing around and moved much more directly. He sped in close to Paul and began delivering a series of strikes that Paul could not defend against. Not that he needed to. The guy still hit like a five year old. And Kyle was now in striking range, too close to dodge properly.

               Paul raised his hands to deliver a crushing hammer blow. Kyle’s fist lashed out. Paul began gasping for air as the small fist left his throat. Another quick throat strike followed, which was followed by several more. Paul went down hard.

               He gasped for air, never quite getting enough to keep him awake. As his vision began to darken, he saw Kyle  hook his arm around the woman’s. Paul heard muffled words, then saw the two of them laughing as they walked away. Then the world went dark.

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Not much to say about this right now, so yeah. Uh, have a wonderful [insert time of day] everyone!

Word: Quondam

 

quondam

[ kwon-duhm, -dam ]

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adjective

former; onetime: his quondam partner.

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               Mike nearly threw his phone against the wall. He was able to restrain himself though. He still needed it and could not afford another. And it looked like he would not for quite some time. Another rejection. Another failure in a long line of them.

               He went through everything that had led up to this. His resume was well made, and his cover letter was damn near flawless. He had gone to the interview impeccably dressed and had done his best to charm the pants of the interviewers. And yet, every single time he had been turned down. What was going on?

               Was it his experience? He had only had two jobs now, so maybe he was just not experienced enough. But it was not like he was going for high level positions. All his interviews were for entry level jobs, things that would get him in the door and not much else. Trained monkeys could do most of what he had applied for.

               Maybe it was his references? His college professors would have nothing but good things to say about him. And his boss from his first job had almost begged him to stay. That left his previous job. While his boss there had not been the best of people, they had at least parted on good terms, so he could at least expect a neutral reference from him. But then again, that was only if the call got to his boss.

               A cold pit formed in his stomach. Could it be? Would she really be that vindictive? What was he saying, of course she would. He immediately dialed her number.

               “Hello?” Came the voice of Sally, his ex-girlfriend. And the secretary at his former job.

               “What did you do?” He asked.

               “Why, whatever do you mean, Mikey?” She asked in the sickly-sweet innocent voice she used when she was reveling in a kept secret.

               “Don’t give me that. You know damn well what I’m talking about. Now what have you done?”

               “Aw, is poor little Mikey having trouble finding a new job? I wonder why that is? Could it have something to do with how I told all of them you like to come in late everyday? Or maybe that you have sticky fingers? Oh, how about that sexual assault charge I told them about.”

               “You bitch!” Mike roared.

Of course she would sabotage him. Why he had ever dated her was a mystery to him. No, that was not true. It was because she looked amazing in a bathing suit. He cursed his overly hormonal younger self for falling for the succubus.

Sally was just laughing her evil little head off. “Sorry, Mike, but you know how it is. You do me wrong, I do you worse.”

“You would ruin my life because I broke up with you?”

“Yup. You broke my tender little heart. It’s only fair that I break everything about you.”

“Really? After all that you put me through? You were a horrible girlfriend. You were selfish, manipulative, spiteful, controlling, petty, and just an all around horrible person. I was completely justified in breaking up with you.”

“Not how I see it. The way I see it, I was the perfect angelic girlfriend, doting on my big, clumsy boyfriend. And he broke my little heart when he broke up with me, completely out of the blue. It’s well within my rights to get a little revenge, wouldn’t you agree?”

Mike needed to new tactic. She would never change. Nor would she relent. That is, unless he gave her a reason to. But he could not do anything to her face. She was horrible, but she was also smart. She would be able to form a counter if she knew he had something in the works. Did he had something in the works? A slow smile crossed his face. Yes. Yes he did.

“You know Sally, if I were, you, I’d start either handing my reference calls to someone else, or start being honest.”

She gave a self-satisfied chuckle. “And why should I do that? I’ve got you on the ropes. You’re helpless, powerless. You live or die on my whim. And I say you go to the poor house.”

“I see. In that case, just remember, what goes around comes around. Good bye, Sally. I hope we never see each other again.”

With that he hung up and got to work. Sally was a clever little bitch, but she could also have tunnel vision. She rarely paid attention to anything other than herself. So she never noticed when he had recorded a few videos of her at parties. Parties that featured events that could really damage a person’s career.

If Sally wanted to play by ruining his reputation, he could do the same. And he would not pull his punches, just because of a past relationship. He was not going down without a fight.

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And so the war begins. 

Word: Vale

vale

[ veyl ]noun

 

1. a valley.

2. the world, or mortal or earthly life: this vale of tears.

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Day 1

Wow, so, I never thought I’d actually use this diary. Guess I’ll have to thank Stacy when I see her again. But yeah, I’m using it, since my phone is smashed to pieces. Let’s see, where should I begin. So, my job sent me on this team building thing with members of other offices. Boring as hell, but I did it.

I’m on my way home, just driving and listening to an audiobook, when this jerk swerves into my lane. I do the only thing I can think of, and avoid him. Only, I wasn’t paying attention to where I swerved. Turns out I was driving on the edge of a cliff, and I go over it.

Now I’m at the bottom of some valley in the middle of nowhere, and I have no idea how I survived the crash. At least I’m not alone. There’s three other people here with me, two women and a guy. They’re weird. They don’t speak English, or, well, any language at all. They also don’t seem to wear clothes.

That’s great in the case of the women, since holy hell are they hot. Like, I’ve seen Photoshopped supermodels that wish they could be half as hot as these two. The guy isn’t so great. I mean, he’s every bit as good looking as the ladies, but I’d honestly rather not see him freeballing so, well, freely. Anyway, since they don’t talk and can’t give names, I’m calling the redhead Scarlett, the blonde Sandy, and the guy Chad. Because why not?

Day 2

Okay, first lesson of this place: Don’t make the locals mad. Like, seriously, don’t. I was walking with Sandy, I guess she was kind of giving me a tour? Not really sure, because, you know, no language. But we come across the huge bear. I’m talking a big ass grizzly, like bigger than anything I’ve seen in any nature documentary. It growls at us and rears up, and I swear I’m a dead man. Sandy just goes up to it an lifts the thing like it’s a toy poodle. I’m serious, she had no trouble with it. She just throws it away like it’s nothing and then goes back to what she was doing.

I get back to the others and Chad is in this big river that runs through the valley. He reaches down and pulls out a fish that’s literally as big as he is. And Chad’s a big guy. He throws this huge fish that’s bigger than most people over his shoulder like a carnival goldfish and walks out of the river like nothing’s wrong. Anyway, the three of them tear into the fish without even gutting or cooking it. When they offered me some, I couldn’t really refuse people who can rip me in half with their bare hands, so I dig in. It was the best fish I’ve ever had.

Day 3

Okay, this valley is really starting to freak me out. Things don’t work like they do back home. I saw a squirrel today. Biggest damned rodent I’ve ever seen to. It was in bad shape. Like, on death’s door bad. I’m about to walk by when I see it healing. Visibly healing right in front of me. In less than a minute it runs off, fully healed and as annoyingly energetic as any squirrel in the world.

I wonder if it works on me? That would explain how I survived the crash.

Also, I’ve decided not to write here everyday. The pages are limited, so I’ll only write if something important happens, or I come up with something that needs to be recorded.

Day 10

I think I’m starting to understand what’s going on. It’s this valley. This place. It’s, well, it’s full of life. I don’t know how else to describe it. I don’t think the animals and people here are any different than normal, not really. But this valley is changing them. Making them better. Stronger. Faster. Tougher. I don’t know how or why, but life thrives here like nowhere else. It’s starting the affect me too. I feel lighter, better than I ever have in my life. It’s like all the pollution and chemicals we use on a daily basis are just leaving my system. I wonder what’ll happen when they’re gone. Will I be able to lift a bear too? That’d be cool.

Day 16

I don’t think I’m going to be getting out of this valley. I’ve been to a lot of it and there doesn’t seem to be a way out. The walls are too steep to climb, and the river comes from some underground source, and disappears the same way.

I’m also not sure I’d want to leave, even if I could. This place is incredible. It’s…it’s paradise. And even though Chad Scarlett and Sandy don’t talk, they’re the nicest people I’ve ever met. And I am figuring out how to communicate with them. They don’t use words, they use body language. Gestures, facial expressions and stuff. It’s simple, but it gets the job done.

Day 34

I’ve decided. I’m going to stay here. With the three of them. This place, I’ve started calling the Vital Valley, is just…more than anything I could’ve imagined. There’s nothing for me back home. Not really. More dull work at a job I hate? Talking with friends who I either don’t really care about or don’t really care about me? Watching the same basic shows with different twists? Nah. I can’t, not after all I’ve seen here. I’m feeling better than I ever have, the company is so much better, and even though I don’t exactly have the internet here, I’ve stopped missing it. In fact, going back actually scares me now. I’ll still write in this journal from time to time, but I don’t think it’ll be very often. There’s just too much life to live here to worry about writing it all down.

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 Sounds like a nice place, right? Well, unless you're a guy like me who pretty much lives on the internet. Then that transition might be...difficult.