Word: De Facto

de facto

[ dee -fak-toh, dey ]adverb, adjective

 

1. in fact; in reality: Although his title was prime minister, he was de facto president of the country. Although the school was said to be open to all qualified students, it still practiced de facto segregation.

 

2. actually existing, especially when without lawful authority (distinguished from de jure).

noun

3. Australian. a person who lives in an intimate relationship with but is not married to a person of the opposite sex; lover.

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               The group looked at Kyle. He looked at each of them in turn. He squirmed under their gazes. He hated being the center of attention.

               “What is everyone looking at me for?” He asked.

               “He wants to talk to the party leader. That’s you.” Said Jeff. The others nodded in agreement.

               “What? No I’m not. Since when am I the leader?”

               “Since none of us want to do it.” Cindy said. Another round of nodding.

               “What? I don’t want to be the leader either.”

               “Too bad.” Jeff said. “We all decided it, so you’re the leader.”

               Kyle looked to each of his friends. They all had the same look. The “glad it’s not me” look. He had not been a part of this discussion. He had no idea they had chosen him. He also had no idea why they had chosen him. He was probably the least qualified person among them to be the leader. He was indecisive, unopinionated, and tended to let others talk for him.

               All this came out in a single word: “Why?”

               “What do you mean, why?” Cindy asked.

               “Why would you pick me? And without telling me. I mean, that’s just not a good idea.”

               “Yeah, but you weren’t around, so we picked you.” Jeff said. “So, go and talk to the guy so we can move on.”

               “And what if I don’t? What if I don’t want to talk to him? You all made me the leader, right? So, what if I don’t want to.” He said and crossed his arms.

               If they wanted to play that kind of game, he would just not play along. He would not be roped into being the party’s de facto leader, simply because he had not been able to refuse the position. The others looked at each other, and then to him.

               “But you have to. Otherwise we won’t be able to get anywhere.” Cindy said.

               “Well then someone else can be the leader. Someone who will talk to the guy, because I’m not doing it.”

               Now the others were starting to get worried. If Kyle was not going to go and advance the plot, then one of them would have to step up and do it. And whoever did was stuck with the leadership position.  None of them wanted that. It was why they had stuck the job on him.

               “What if you just become, like, the leader in name only?” Cindy eventually said. “Like, we call you the leader, but it’s just an empty title. What we actually do is more democratic. That way you don’t have to actually do anything except talk to some people every now and then.”

               Kyle mulled her suggestion over. It sounded alright. Better than being a full leader and making all the decisions on his own anyway. He still did not like having the title at all, but if it was mostly ceremonial, he could live with it. More or less anyway.

               “Okay, fine.” He grudgingly said. The others looked immediately relieved. “Let’s go talk to some guy about some quest to find some thing.”

               He stood and headed off to start the game.

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Yeah, I'm not sure I like this one. I'm a little tired and almost completely forgot to write it. So yeah, sorry if it's a little...meh.

Word: Esurient

esurient

[ ih-soor-ee-uhnt ]

adjective

hungry; greedy.

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Harry looked over the financials of his company. Most would be thrilled with what they saw. Over the last year, the company had seen an almost exponential increase in profits. Everything was going swimmingly, and there was no projected end to their growth. And Harry had a single thought about it. 

“It’s not enough.” He growled. Growth was too slow, profits too small. He wanted more. 

“I know it’s not. That’s why I like you so much.” 

Harry nearly jumped out of his skin. He had been alone in his office. At least, he should have been alone. His secretary had not buzzed him, and he did not have any appointments. And yet, standing where there had been empty space just moments before, were two people. 

One was a tall, skinny woman in a crisp business suit. She had an odd kind of beauty to her. She was hardly model quality, but there was something to her. She had a certain sharpness to her. Not dangerous though, no. She had the look of someone who saw the world in one of two ways: What do I have, and how can I get what I don’t have? Harry liked her immediately. 

The other was a heavyset man with an odd build. He was of average height, but not of average width. His stomach was large, but the rest of his body was filled with the large, bulky muscles of a powerlifter. His eyes though, there was something about his eyes. They seemed to want to destroy, no, devour everything he saw. Harry could get behind that, although not as much as the woman. 

“Who are you and why shouldn’t I call security on you?” Harry asked. 

“Oh Harry, you already know who we are. You see us every day. You speak to us almost constantly. We’re practically you’re oldest friends.” The woman said. 

“Maybe you are.” The man said in a thick, heavy voice. “He likes me fine, but not like you.” 

“Oh hush up you. I’m talking.” The woman snapped. 

Harry thought. He was certain he had never seen these two before. He would have remembered them if he had. But he tried to think anyway but came up with nothing. 

“If it helps, try closing your eyes and looking at us.” 

That made absolutely no sense, but he tried it anyway. He closed his eyes and, sure enough, he saw something. Something amazing and terrible. Two beings of vast power. Both of them drew everything around them in, but what happened then was different. One gathered everything and had it simply cling to them, like a man hoarding whatever he could. Whatever touched the other simply vanished, disappearing into its form. And somehow, he knew who these two were. 

“Greed and Gluttony.” Harry whispered. 

“There, you see? You do know us.” the woman, Greed, said. 

“What...what are...how are you...” 

“Take your time.” 

“And be glad she’s not charging you for her time.” Gluttony said. This earned him a dagger like glare from the taller woman. 

“How are you here? You two shouldn’t even exist. At least, not in physical form. I thought the seven sins were just ideas. Things to keep away from.” 

“Originally, yes.” Greed said. “But after a while, ideas start taking shape. We became very real. And now we want you for something. You see, every hundred years or so, we get together and have a little contest. We each choose a human avatar and give him or her power. Then they fight, and whoever wins get a big prize. The winner not only gets to keep the power given to him, but also gains the power of the other sins. In other words, the winner becomes the seven sins incarnate.” 

Harry’s eyes widened. The very idea of that much power was tantalizing. Alluring. He wanted it. Wanted it more than anything he had ever wanted before. A wide, predatory smile crossed Greed’s face. 

“So why did two of you come?” Harry asked. “Do I start with both of your powers?” 

“No. Only one.” Gluttony said. “Since you apply to both of us, you can pick whose power you get. But we all know who you’re going with. Not sure why I even bothered to show up.” 

“You know the rules, Gluttony.” Greed said. “He has enough of you in him to warrant the choice.” 

Henry looked at each of them. “So, I get Greed, but why Gluttony? I don’t eat all that much.” Harry patted his still trim stomach. 

Gluttony scoffed. “I’m not about eating a lot. Not really anyway. I’m about consumption. I’m about excess. I’m about using more than you need. And that fits you almost as well as Greed does.” 

Harry nodded. That did make sense. And there was some appeal to having the power of Gluttony. It would probably be a lot more useful in a straight fight, even before knowing what the powers would actually be. But he knew what he would pick. What he had to pick. 

“I choose Greed.” Harry said. 

“Of course you do.” Greed said. 

“No surprise there. You two get acquainted. I’m going to find a better avatar.”  The large man disappeared, gone into whatever dimension they normally occupied. 

Greed flashed another one of her predatory grins and spoke. “Now then, my dear avatar, let’s talk.”

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Maybe a new series or something? Maybe not here, but somewhere. Well, if I ever get around to it, and honestly, that's probably not going to happen. Oh well.

Word: Evanescent

evanescent

[ ev-uh-nes-uh nt ]adjective

1. vanishing; fading away; fleeting.

2. tending to become imperceptible; scarcely perceptible.

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When Josh woke up, he felt different somehow. Lighter, like there was less of him. He checked himself in the mirror, but there was nothing wrong that he could see. He made a mental note to call the doctor after work.

                As he went through his morning routine, that feeling of something missing seemed to grow. It was a slow process. So slow it took him until he left his apartment to really take notice of the growing feeling of lightness. But it did not seem to have much effect on him, so he brushed it aside, figuring the doctor would know more.

                It was not until he got to the office that he really noticed what was happening to him. Everyone seemed to have one of two reactions to him: They either seemed to notice him much later than normal, or they would be momentarily confused, like they had to think about who he was for a moment.

                When he got to his little slice of the office, he sat paused by the cubicle next to his to ask the occupant if there was something weird going on. Josh had know the man, Greg, since before they had started working at this company, and was often the only reason the job was even slightly tolerable.

                “Hey, Greg, you getting any weird looks lately?” Josh asked.

                Greg looked up in surprise and looked at Josh quizzically for a moment. Josh knew what that look was. It was the look of someone trying to remember who another person was.

                “Hey…buddy…” Greg said. “Uh, no, I don’t think anyone’s been treating me differently. Why?”

                “No reason, I’ve just been getting weird looks lately. Hey, we still on for the game tonight?”

                “Game? Uh, I don’t know…”

                “Come on, you’ve been telling me about it all week. How this would be the big one, and the one to make the entire season.”

                “I mean, yeah, there is a pretty important game tonight, but I don’t remember talking to anyone about it.”

                “Seriously?” Josh thought about what was going on. Could people really be forgetting him? “Hey, Greg, what’s my name?”

                Greg opened his mouth and closed it. He thought long and hard about that question. “Sorry, but I don’t know. Didn’t we just meet? Hey, how do you know my name, anyway?”

                “You’ve got to be kidding. It’s me, Josh. We’ve been friends since college? Remember, you used to date my sister.”

                “I did? No, that can’t be right. None of the girls I dated in college had a brother that looks like you. I definitely would’ve remembered that.” He looked Josh up and down. “Hey, you feeling alright? You look kinda…off.”

                “Well, I mean, one of my best friends says he doesn’t remember me, so there’s that.”

                “No, no, that’s not it. I mean, you look, I don’t know, pale? And I swear I can see the wall through you. Well, kind of anyway.”

                Josh looked at his hand and his eyes grew wide. He could indeed just barely make out the outline of the floor through his hands. Was this because of the odd feeling of lightness that he had been feeling? He rushed into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. Whatever was happening to him was speeding up.

                He was getting less and less visible. Vanishing a little more every second. He scrambled and pulled out his phone. He typed out a message, hoping it would help someone remember he existed. It was all he had left.

                A few minutes later, an employee entered the room, and quickly saw a phone laying on the floor. It was recently used, and a single line of text was displayed, although what it meant, the man had no idea. It read:

I am Joshua Henry Adams, and I existed.

               *******************************************

Probably the worst thing that can happen to someone. To simply stop existing. I mean, even death is in some ways better, because someone will remember you. But to simply not be there and nobody remembers you? That's much worse.