Word: adscititious

 

adscititious

\ ad-si-TISH-uhs \  , adjective;

1. added or derived from an external source; additional.

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Kyle and Jill were shepherded through the cavern at a slow but steady pace.  It was clear their feline companions (or captors, depending on who you asked) wanted to go at a much faster pace from the way they talked with each other and constantly looked back at the two humans.  But, they were also smart enough to know that they couldn’t keep up on two legs, and so kept a pace that was manageable for the two outsiders.

               Kyle, for his part, was just happy they were alive.  Jill had managed to keep them that way with various shows of supplication and submission.  Kyle didn’t necessarily like it, but he couldn’t argue with the results.  Jill seemed quite content to follow the large cat like animals through the cavern.  She figured that they knew where they were going, and might even know a way back to the surface.  That one was a long shot, but it was something.  At the very least they might know why the ropes broke in the first place, which was something worth knowing.

               “Where do you think they’re taking us?”  Kyle asked, more to say something than actual curiosity.

               “Probably to whatever area they call home.  Hopefully they’ll have something edible for us.”  Jill said.  The mention of food reminded him just how little they had eaten, and hunger was starting to creep up on him.  He did his best to put it out of his mind though.

               “One can only hope.”  He said.  The conversation came to an abrupt halt at that. 

               They walked on in silence, listening to the language of their captors.  It sounded like several cats gathered together, but with some actual patterns to their calls.  There were some sounds that were clearly laughter, and both Kyle and Jill knew exactly what was so funny to them.  At the moment though, there wasn’t much they could do about it though.

               After walking for quite some time, they started nearing the wall of the cavern, and the ceiling was slowly closing in on them.  It didn’t matter much to the felines, but to Jill and Kyle, it was going to be an issue soon.  Sure enough, as they walked, the cavern ceiling got low enough that they had to crawl.  Fortunately, they didn’t have much further to go though, and being able to grab onto the moss actually made it easier to advance. 

               There was a gap in the cavern wall ahead of them, with walls so regular and even that it had to be artificial.  The felines crawled into the tunnel without any hesitation, and Kyle and Jill followed them somewhat more reluctantly.  It was easy for the felines to crawl through it, but a tight squeeze for the humans.  Still, they managed to get though it ok.  And what they saw when they came out was not what they expected.

               They were in another cavern, but this one was much smaller and had most likely been carved out of solid rock.  There were no buildings, but many more felines were present in the space.  Most were busy at some task or another, but others were simply lounging around.

               But there were two things that really caught there attention.  The first was the light.  In the main cavern, the luminescent butterflies filled the place with a soft blue light.  But in this one, there were no butterflies, and the light was white.  It filtered into the cavern through a hole in the middle of the ceiling.  Directly under the hole was the second thing that caught their attention:  a single tree.  It was small, and its branches looked like they were struggling to support their own weight, but it was a tree none the less. 

               Jill rushed over to it with a huge smile on her face.  The felines didn’t seem to take too kindly to that.  In fact, they bounded over to her, surrounding her.  They raised their tails and pointed the sharp claws on the ends of them at Jill.  She seemed completely oblivious to the danger.  She was looking up through the hole to notice anything else. 

               “Oh my god.  Kyle, come over here, you’ve got to see this.”  She said in awe.

               “Yeah, I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”  Kyle said.  The felines that weren’t surrounding Jill were looking at Kyle with caution.  “Why don’t you tell me what you see?”

               “It’s the sky.  I can see the sky up there.”

               “Wait, really?  You’re kidding.  We must be way too deep to see that.”

               “Yeah, but it’s there.  I can see it.  I can see the clouds and everything.  Ah, I’m pretty sure a bird just flew by.”

               “That’s impossible.  There’s no way you could be seeing all that.”  Kyle started towards her, but was stopped by two felines crossing his path. 

Jill looked away from the hole and examined the tree next.  She face lit up again.

“Oh hey, it’s an apple tree!  And it has fruit on it.  Not much, but it’s there.  I think it’s even ripe.”  She plucked something from the tree without worrying about the screeches and hisses of the felines.  It was indeed an apple.  A small green apple that did seem ripe.  Kyle’s mouth began to water as he watched Jill take a bite.

She chewed slowly, clearly enjoying the taste of it.  The feline’s stopped dead and watched her take another bite of the fruit.  They looked at each other and talked quietly in voices Kyle couldn’t understand.  He knew the tone though.  They were in awe of her for some reason.  Kyle took a step forward and the two felines blocking his path stepped aside, letting him approach the tree.

He took one of the few remaining apples and bit into it.  It was tart, but it was ripe, and it soothed his hunger pains a bit.  He savored it just as Jill did, without even worrying about the felines any more.

“Hey, what’s with them?”  Jill asked, finally taking stock of the situation.

“No idea.  They were all threatening and hostile when you went over here, but quieted down real fast once you took a bite.

“Huh.  Weird.”  She said.  She looked around, studying the fasces of the felines as they watched them.  Suddenly, she raised the apple into the air.  The felines watched her every move with wide eyes.  She took a long, slow bite and watched the feline’s awed reaction.  Then she started laughing.

“What?  You think of something?”  Kyle asked.

“I think I have an idea.  See, these guys are kind of like cat’s right?  That means they’re probably carnivores.”

“Right, so?”

“So they can’t eat apples.  They wouldn’t even know they could be eaten.  And if they did, they would just get sick.  Now a normal animal would just ignore them and go about its business.  But these guys are intelligent.  They’ll wonder what this stuff is, and why it exists if it can’t be eaten, even if it’s clearly meant to be.  Plus, it’s under the light from the sky, something completely foreign to them.  It must therefore be important in some way.”  As she spoke, Kyle thought about her words, and a sudden realization came to him.

“Oh god, you’re not thinking…”

“Yeah, I am.  I’m pretty sure they have a religion based on the apples and sky.  And since we can eat the apples, I’m pretty sure we just became religious figures.”

Kyle took a deep breath and slumped down next to the thin branch of the tree.  All at once, the felines sat down where they were.

“This is going to make things more interesting.”  Jill said, looking around.  Kyle could only nod in agreement.  

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It's been awhile since we've seen these two, hasn't it?  You didn't think I forgot about them or anything did you?  I was just waiting for the right word.  I didn't quite get it, since I was hoping to do some other stuff that happened before this story, but oh well.  Maybe if I write up a full length story I'll put that missing scene in or something.  We'll just see what happens.

Word: somnambulism

somnambulism

\ som-NAM-byuh-liz-uhm, suhm- \  , noun;

1. sleepwalking.

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 A loud thump came from downstairs.  Sam woke with a start when the sound reached him.  He listened for a while, then figured it was probably something hitting the side of the house and was about to go back to sleep.  Then another thump sounded through the room, and then another soon after.  He scrambled out of bed and threw on whatever clothes he could get his hands on before leaving his room. 

               Out in the hallway, he nearly ran into Evan, one of his guests for the night.  He was also dressed haphazardly, and he held a knife shaped letter opener like it would keep him alive. The two of them looked at each other for a moment.  Evan looked like he was about to say something, but Sam held a finger to his lips.  Evan nodded and fell in line behind Sam as he made his way to the stairs. 

               Both of them crept down as quietly as they could as the thumps sounded out at irregular intervals.  As they got closer to the source, Sam was getting more and more worried that there was an uninvited guest in his house that may or may not have hostile intent for him and his stuff. 

               At the bottom of the stairs, he paused to listen.  The thumps were coming from the living room.  He slowly and carefully worked his way there.  He soon found that there were many things out of place.  Not by much, but still.  In fact, it was more like someone repeatedly bumped into things rather than removed anything.  Once he got to the room in question, he peaked inside.  The darkness made it tough to see what was going on, but there was definitely someone there.  He felt around the wall for the light switch, intending to flip it on and surprise the ner-do-well, hoping to gain the advantage that way.  He flipped on the light and started to run into the room.  That is, until he saw who was there.  He stopped and breathed a sigh of relief.

               “Well? What’s going on?”  Evan whispered, taking the sudden silence as a signal that it was alright to talk.

               “It’s ok man, come on and check this out.”  Sam whispered back.  Evan crept into the room.

               “Huh.  Who knew.”  He said.

               Standing in the middle of the room was Leslie, Sam’s other houseguest.  She was dressed in sleep clothes; a pair of sleep pants and a loose teddy bear T-shirt.  Her normally impeccably styled hair was disheveled and wild.  And she was clearly still asleep.  Her eyes were closed and her breathing was slow and deep.  Plus, the fact that she kept bumping into the furniture was a big tip off. 

               “That Leslie’s a sleepwalker?”  Sam asked, more than a little amused. 

               “Yeah.  You’d think she’d have mentioned something like that.”

               “Maybe she doesn’t know?”

               “Nah.  Somebody’d have told her by now.”

               “I guess so.  But what should we do now?  Should we try and wake her or something?”

               “Oh hey, I got an idea.  Go get your phone.  This is gonna be good.”  Evan said with a mischievous grin on his face.  Sam did as his friend asked, and he soon returned with his phone already set for a video.  He might not have known what Evan had in mind, but he could guess why he wanted Sam’s phone in the area.

               “Ok, I’ve got it.  What now.”

               “Just take a vid of this and post it once I’m done.”

               “You sure?  I mean, she might not like that.”

               “Are you kidding me?  She’d be the first to tell you to upload it.”  Evan said.  Sam knew he was right.  Leslie was the type of girl who posted every video she took to YouTube, no matter how inane it was.  Sam nodded and started the video.

               Evan stood by a bit and let Sam record Leslie’s sleepwalking for a few seconds.  Then he motioned for Sam to follow him as he approached her.  He stood behind Leslie and moved in close to her ear.

               “Hey Les.”  He said quietly.

               “’Lo.”  She said dreamily.

               “Where are you Les?”  He asked.  Leslie let out a light laugh.

               “Silly deer, we’re in th’ woods.” She said right before bumping into a wall.  Evan tried to stifle his laughter. 

               “Oh, I see.  Well then, you’d better be careful.  Looks like you’re running into a lot of trees.”  Evan said.

               “Can’t help it.  They move.”  Leslie said. 

               “Oh, well that must be tough then.” 

               “Ye, it is.” 

               “But you know what the worst about moving trees is?”

               “’S that?”

               “You don’t know what might be waiting for you.”

               “Like what?”

               “Well, for example…”  He paused a bit to smile at the camera.  “Oh my god look out there’s a bear!”  He shouted as he grabbed her shoulder and shook her.

               Leslie let out a terrified scream.  Then, suddenly, her arm lashed out behind her and hit Evan square in the jaw.  He stumbled back and clutched his face in pain.  Leslie stood there wide eyed and breathless, looking around quickly.  Sam recorded the whole thing as he burst out laughing.  He held the view on Evan for a few moments as he grumbled in pain, and then quickly moved it up to the still panicked Leslie. 

               “W-what just happened?”  She asked, now fully awake.  Sam cut the video there and started the process of uploading it to the internet. 

               “You were sleepwalking.”  He said once the process was underway.  “Evan just tried to be creative in waking you up.”  She turned quickly to Evan, who was just starting to get back up, and glared at him. 

               “Oh really?  You know you’re not supposed to wake up a sleepwalker, right?”  She said.  It was a thinly veiled threat, but Evan was in no position to understand that.

               “Yeah, yeah.  Whatever.”  He said, still nursing his jaw.  “You didn’t put that up, did you?”  He asked Sam.

               “Of course I did.”  He said proudly.

               “Wait, you recorded that?”  Leslie asked.

               “That a problem?”  Sam said.

               “Just make sure that people know I was asleep, ok?”  She said sternly.  Sam nodded with a big grin plastered on his face.

               “Oh dear god, I can’t believe you did that.”  Evan said.

               “Why not?  It was your idea you know.”  Sam said.

               “Yeah, but that was before I got punched.”

               “It wasn’t a punch.  More like a slap or something.”

               “Whatever.”  Evan said, unable to think of anything else to say.

               “Hey, you should be happy.  You might become the next viral video in a few weeks.”

               “Oh yeah.  Great.” 

               “Um, Sam, can I at least see the video?”  Leslie chimed in.   Sam played the video for her, and she soon started laughing at Evan.  “Oh yeah, this is going viral for sure.  And thanks for getting my good side by the way.”

               “You have a good side?”  Sam asked playfully.  His reward was a playful punch on the arm.

               “Can we just go back to sleep and talk about this in the morning?”  Evan asked, still miserable at the humiliation he would now be sharing with the world.

               “Sound good to me.”  Sam said.  “So should we like, tie you down Les?” 

               “Oh ha ha ha.”  She said.  She paused to think about it for a moment.  “Oh second thought, that might not be such a bad idea.”

               The three talked about the best way to keep Leslie from sleepwalking all the way to the top of the stairs.  Once there though, they each returned to their own rooms, ready to get back to sleep.  Sam, for his part, couldn’t wait to see what would pop up during the night.  

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Ah YouTube, letting people share the humiliation and embarrassment of their friends since 2005.  Where oh where would the modern world be without it?

                

Word: falderal

 

falderal

\ FAL-duh-ral \  , noun;

1. mere nonsense; foolish talk or ideas.

2. a trifle; gimcrack; gew-gaw.

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Jeff walked into the room with a wide smile on his face.  The music was at just the right volume.  Loud enough to be heard by all, but not loud enough to create premature hearing loss in the people present.  The lights were also just right.  Dim enough for the occasion, but bright enough to see by (although it did take a minute or two to properly adjust).  The party was in full swing, with people either on the dance floor or hovering around the food.  Jeff figured the best place to be was with the later group.  At least at first. 

               He looked for someone to talk to, with the members of the fair sex being his prime target.  Unfortunately, most of the girls there were either with a date, or dressed to ‘show off’, which is something Jeff did not want, even if most guys did.  He just had to wonder why Halloween was the one time of year when so many girls dressed like that. 

               He scanned the room, and eventually found exactly what he was looking for.  A pretty girl standing alone off to one side of the room.  She was dressed as a fighter pilot, and not one that the words ‘sexy’ or ‘naughty’ could be applied to.   Both of those were good things in his eyes.  Plus, not only was she alone, but she wasn’t scanning the room looking for someone.  He knew this didn’t necessarily mean she was dateless, but it didn’t hurt either. 

               Jeff casually walked over to her and sat down in a nearby chair.  He gave no indication that he was paying any attention to her, but rather looked out over the dance floor at the myriad of costumed people. Then he simply waited for the girl to notice him and ask the inevitable question.

               “What exactly are you supposed to be?”  The girl said.  Jeff smiled, knowing stage one of his plan had been a rousing success.  He stood up with pretend drama.

               “I am Nonsense.”  He said proudly.  Jeff’s costume was not one that is normally seen.  His face was painted with several colors, with no pattern to it.  His clothes had been covered with colored pieces of paper.  Each of the small squares was covered with either a drawing or a few sentences.  Not one of them made any sense at all.  There was no pattern, no connections between them, and no method to the madness.  It was pure, random, nonsense.

               “What?”  The girl said with equal parts confusion and amusement.

               “Nonsense.  I’m every nonsensical thing that has ever been said or done.”  She blinked a few times, and then hung her head.

               “Oh geeze, there’s another one of you.”  She said.  Jeff’s smile fell.

               “Another one?  You mean another person dressed like me?”

               “Not quite.  See, the guy I’m here with is something along the same line.  Not Nonsense, but still.” 

               That was a killer blow.  Jeff knew there was a chance she would have a date, but he was hoping she didn’t.  Now he would have to give up on her and find another one.  All he needed was a way to end the conversation in a way that didn’t seem like he wanted to leave.  He was about to start the process, when someone behind him spoke up.

               “Excuse me, did I hear you correctly?  Is this man Nonsense?”  It was a guy’s voice.  Most likely the girl’s date. 

               “Yeah, that’s right, I am.”  Jeff said as he turned around to face the newcomer.

               His appearance was crisp, neat and orderly.  While his body was also covered with small pieces of paper, they were arranged in neat rows, unlike Jeff’s which were stuck on haphazardly.  While he couldn’t see what was printed on the papers, he could see they were neatly done, and each seemed to connect in some way to those around it.  The guy’s face was unpainted and undecorated.  No, there was some decoration.  His ears had latex additions.  They were ears that he had seen before in a movie recently.  Vulcan ears.  That alone was enough to tell him what he wanted to know.  Although he couldn’t get the girl, he could at least have some fun.

               “Logic.”  He said with mock hated.  He even narrowed his eyes to almost comical slits.

               “Nonsense.”  The guy responded in kind. 

               They stood there looking at each other for a moment.  Then Jeff made his move.  He threw a long, slow punch aimed at the guy’s head.  He missed purposely, but his counterpart still acted like he got hit.  The guy even slapped his thigh to make the impact sound.  The guy reeled back and held his cheek where he ‘got hit’.

               “A pink elephant flies over the moon!”  Jeff called out, think of the most random, nonsensical thing he could think of.  Logic gave an overly exaggerated wince at the statement, but quickly launched his ‘counter’, aiming a fake punch at Jeff’s stomach.  Jeff moved with it like the other guy did.

               “Elephants are land based mammals, and therefore cannot fly.  In addition, there is no ‘over’ the moon!”  Logic said.  Jeff acted like he had been hit with another blow before retaliating.

               The mock fight went on like this for quite some time.  Jeff would make a fake attack, and then follow it up with the most nonsensical thing he could think of.  Then the other would do the same, delivering a staged attack, then refuting the statement with cold, hard logic.

               People were starting to gather around to watch the theatrics.  Most of them probably had no idea what was going on, but it was fun to watch.  The girl stood there and snickered at Jeff and her date.  She looked like she wanted to step in and stop the ‘fight’, but was having too much fun watching to do anything about it. 

               After several volleys though, Jeff started to run out of ideas.  His words were starting to become repetitive.  Although still pure nonsense, it was harder to come up with new things to say.  He would have to end it soon.  His chance came soon enough.  Logic had just finished his ‘attack’, and instead of getting up and countering, Jeff wobbled around a bit.

               “I…I…”  He stuttered.  Then, he fell to his knees, and then to the floor.  He heard several groans of disappointment from the crowd, and he had no doubt the ‘fight’ would be posted online in a few hours, but he didn’t care much. 

               “Are you ok down there?”  Logic said. 

               “Quiet, can’t you see I’m wallowing in defeat?”  Jeff said.  He waited a few more seconds before getting up.  “Ok, that’s enough wallowing.” He smiled and held out his hand.  “Jeff.”  He said as the other guy took the offered hand.

               “Chris.”  He said.  “And this is my sister Kelly.”  He pointed to the girl.  Jeff did a mental back flip when he heard that.  He wasn’t her date.  He still had a shot.  Plus, he had gotten off to a good start with her brother, which was always a good thing.

               “Nice to meet you both.”  He said.

               “Likewise.”  Kelly said with an amused smile.

               “So uh, how’d you know what I am?”  Chris asked.

               “It’s the ears.  Anyone who’s seen Star Trek would know what those things are.”

               “See, told you they would give it away.”  Kelly said.

               “Yeah, yeah.  It just seemed to fit, you know?” 

               “I’m sure.”  Jeff said.  “So, what are you two doing after the party?”  He asked.

               “Nothing.  Just going home and hanging.  You want to come?”  Kelly asked.

               “Sure thing.”  Jeff said. This was a very good sign for him.  The fact that Chris wasn’t protesting helped quite a bit as well.  “But for now, why don’t we hit the dance floor?”

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Halloween is coming up soon.  Do you have your costume ready?  Also, just for the heck of it, Live long and prosper.