Word: Apathy

 

apathy

[ ap-uh-thee ]

noun

, plural ap·a·thies.

1. absence or suppression of passion, emotion, or excitement.

   Synonyms: coolness

   Antonyms: fervor, ardor

2. lack of interest in or concern for things that others find moving or exciting.
3. Also ap·a·thei·a, ap·a·thi·a [] Stoicism. freedom from emotion of any kind.

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                              There was something wrong with the town. The party of adventurers noticed the oddities right away, seeing as they were not particularly subtle. The entire populace went about their day with a listless, blank look in their eye. None of them, not even the children, showed any emotion at all. They simply existed.

               “Okay, this is creepy.” Said Mara, the party’s rogue. “Like, really creepy. Seriously, it’s worse than that one place that got taken over by a weird hive mind ooze monster.”

               “I don’t think it quite goes that far.” Replied Daniel, the fighter of the group. “But it is pretty bad. You think it’s some kind of spell?”

               “Gotta be.” Mara said. “Nothing can make people act this dead inside other than magic. Borr, you wanna check these guys out?”

               The party wizard was already examining the people. He had gone right up to a man who was listlessly carrying goods around. Probably transporting things to one of the small shops. Borr was able to go right up to the man without any problem. The man just looked at the small mage and kept walking. It allowed Borr to examine the man without any resistance.

               “Yeah, it’s magic. A big spell. Really big. I don’t quite know what it does yet though.”

               “I don’t know. It seems fairly obvious.” Daniel said. “It makes people apathetic to, I think everything.”

               “On the surface, yes.” The wizard said. “But magic is never that simple. Even my most basic spells have many layers of complexity.” Both of the party members braced themselves for a lecture on the nature of magic and spellcraft. Fortunately for them, it never came. “And I can promise this is a very complex spell. I’ve seen many that can cover a wide area, but never so thoroughly as this one. And a complete suppression of emotions? That’s complex, advanced stuff. I’d love to see the spellbook of the people who made this.”

               “After we pry it from his cold, dead hands, right?” Mara asked.

               “I thought that went without saying.” Borr nodded. “Whoever made this spell is brilliant, but very dangerous. Not someone that can be allowed to roam free.”

               “Great.” Daniel said. “So, will this apathy spell affect us? And how long do we have before it does?”

               Borr went up to a different person, a woman cradling two eerily silent children. He performed his magic, examining the spellwork closely.

               “It will affect us, yes. In fact, it’s already started to. But it’s a slow burn. It’ll be at least two days before we see any change in how we act, and another three before we’re fully under the effects. But it’s okay. If we leave the area of effect, it should wear off within a day or two.”

               “So, does that mean if we take a few of these people out of the town they’ll recover?” The fighter asked.

               “Yes. It will take a bit longer than it would us, because of how deeply the spell is rooted in their minds. But it will fade eventually. There might be some lingering effects, but nothing serious.”

               “Cool.” Mara said. “So we just grab someone who looks like they’ll know stuff, drag ‘em out of town and wait till they wake up. Then we question them about the who, what and where. And then we kill someone and take their stuff.”

               “A bit of a simplification, but yes.” Borr agreed.

               “Alright, we’re agreed.” Daniel nodded. “I’ll go find someone that fits. And keep an eye on each other, just in case the spell works a bit faster than planned.”

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A mid-level quest for a DnD party, I guess? Or just a general fantasy story. Could go either way, really. 

Word: Tweak

 

tweak

[ tweek ]

verb (used with object)

1. to pinch and pull with a jerk and twist:

   She playfully tweaked his ear.

   I tweaked my bowtie again, but it stayed stubbornly crooked.

2. to pull or pinch the nose of, especially gently:

   He leaned over the stroller and tweaked the baby affectionately.

3. to make a minor adjustment to:

   Bad hardware can't be fixed by tweaking the software.

4. to annoy, tease, or make fun of:

   How much of her “dumb blonde” image was actually a brilliant performer tweaking the stuffed shirts?

---

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               It should have worked. Evan knew it should have worked. He had checked all the simulations. Went over every part with a fine-tooth comb. Everything was perfect. And yet his creation simply refused to do anything. It turned on just fine. The computer said everything was going to work. But the damn machine refused to do anything other than make a whirring noise, followed by a series of worrying clanks.

               “Hey man, what’s up?”

               Evan groaned. He did not need the distraction from his idiot roommate. He had more important things to think about.

               “Go away, Steve. I’m trying to change the world here.” Evan said.

               “Really? Sweet! Can I watch?”

               “If I saw no, will you go away?”

               “Nope. Nothing good on any streaming site right now. Figured you’d have something cool going on.”

               Evan took a deep breath. “Fine. Just don’t touch anything. This is all very sensitive equipment.”

               “No problem. You won’t even know I’m here.”

               Evan doubted that. But as long as Steve didn’t do anything, he was harmless. Evan busying himself with trying to figure out what was wrong with his creation. He poured over the diagrams, trying to find the flaw. But he simply could not find anything wrong.

               “Something wrong, man?” Steve asked.

               “Nothing you can help with.”

               Evan tried altering a few minor parameters, just to see if anything changed. Nothing did. Still those same sounds.

               “Wow. That sounds bad. He, you know I’m pretty good with cars and stuff. Maybe I can take a look at it?”

               “Steve, the fact that you equate this masterpiece of engineering and craftsmanship with a common car tells me how unqualified you are to examine a single screw. In other words, don’t you dare touch anything.”

               “Ah come on, I’m sure it’s not that bad.” Steve had already stood and made his way into the main mechanism of the machine.

               Evan quickly shut it all down, just in case the big idiot did something to damage it. He heard some light clinks and thunks. A few metallic taps and the rustling of wires. Five minutes later, Steve came out.

               “Okay, give it a try now.”

“What did you do? You had better not have broken anything.”

               “Chill, dude, chill. Just turn it on and see what happens.”

               Evan grumbled, but did so. He turned it on, expecting the entire thing to collapse. The machine whirred to life. It became a glorious symphony of sound, motion and function. And it was perfect. Evan stared, stunned. Steve let out a triumphant whoop.

               “How…what? What did you do?” Evan asked.

               “I just looked around and tweaked a few things.”

               “What?”

               “Yeah. I got a feeling that some things weren’t where they should’ve been, so I tweaked and poked ‘em until they felt right.”

                It took several seconds for Evan to process what he had just been told. “They…felt wrong. And you did random changes until they…felt right.”

               “Yup.”

               “I…I don’t know whether to hug you or hit you.”

               Steve looked quite proud of himself. “You’re welcome, man. Always happy to help. So, uh, what’s this thing do anyway?”

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There's more definitions for this word, but I'm only posting a few. Otherwise there'd be too many and it'd get awkward.  Besides, we all know what "tweak" means, right?

Word: Ripsnorter

 

ripsnorter

[ rip-snawr-ter ]

noun

Informal.

1. something or someone exceedingly strong or violent:

   a ripsnorter of a gale.

2. something or someone remarkably good or exciting.

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                  Dr. Last didn’t know where he had messed up. It should have been perfect. Everything was perfect. They were perfect. Maybe that was the problem. They were too perfect. The best minions he had ever had. Their skill, intelligence, and loyalty were far beyond what any other minion was capable of. So why shouldn’t he have rewarded them? Even though he was out to end all civilization and install himself as dictator, he could still be a good employer.

                  And turning his two best minions into neigh unstoppable super soldiers seemed like a great thing to do. After all, they were perfectly loyal. There was no chance they would turn on him.

                  He looked over the balcony as one of them, the female, ripped one of his tanks apart with her bare hands. The male of the pair was seeing how accurately he could jump. He did this by jumping up to his bomber drones several hundred feet in the air. The amount of violence would have been commendable had it been against anyone else.

                  Several of his normal minions opened fire on the two, unloading thousands of rounds every second. Of course, none of the bullets had any effect. Dr. Last had made sure the super soldiers wouldn’t be able to be stopped by such mundane means. Really, he had done so much for those two. It baffled him why they had betrayed him.

                  He wondered if it was a mental side effect. Perhaps increased aggression to go with the increased abilities. He had tried to account for that, but not even he was perfect. But no, they had been so normal at first. Well, as normal as people who could rip steel apart ever could be. And considering what the female was doing to the door to one of his bunkers, they were capable of tearing steel quite effectively.

                  They had come out of the procedure and seemed stable enough. Then they said something about “defending the world” and had gone completely berserk. As he thought about it, he wondered. Could it really be that simple? Could they have simply been heroes infiltrating his operations? He did have to admit the amount of his plots being thwarted had gone up a bit since they had joined. He had never considered spies though.

                  After all, the plots that had been stopped had seemingly been random. Oh, some were of great importance, but others were minor and hardly even slowed his plans down. And some even included those two. But the more Dr. Last thought about it, the more convinced he became. He had been infiltrated by heroes with expert espionage training. And now he had a pair of bona fide superheroes on his hands.

                  He sighed and turned away from the male using his satellite dish arrays and throwing disks. He would need to escape before those two got to him. It would not be long, given how quickly they were tearing through his defenses. It was frustrating, as this was one of his main bases. But he had others. Bases that even those two did not know about where he could lay low and recoup his losses. It would take time, but he could recover the spent resources with enough time. And the super soldier process had worked wonders.

                  He would just need to rework it a bit. Add something to control the resulting individuals. A genetic kill switch maybe? Or some sort of innate mental control method. Yes, either of those would do. Perhaps both would be better. Dr. Last nodded to himself as he entered his escape tunnel. He would go into hiding for now. But he, and his organization, would come back better and stronger than ever.

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   Just a little supervillain type stuff. Writing from the hero's perspective is all well and good, but every now and then you need something from a villain's POV.