word: nubilous

 

nubilous

\ NOO-buh-luhs \  , adjective;

1. Cloudy or foggy.

2. Obscure or vague; indefinite.

********************************
    The fog was thick, moving through the woods as if it was alive, eating the very ground it moved over.  It covered the cabin like water closing around a swimmer.  
    “You know guys, this is exactly how a horror movie would start.”  One of the cabins occupants said.   The other four groaned.  They had to put up with this kind of talk for the entirety of the two hour drive to the cabin.  By now, they could probably guess, word for word, what he was about to say.  “I mean really, look at us.”  He continued, paying no attention to the reactions of his friends.  “Five young people in a cabin in the woods, hours away from any civilization, completely cut off from the rest of the world.  All that’s left is for something to come in out of the fog and attack us when we least expect it.”  As he was talking, one of them, a tallish guy with dusty hair circled around his ranting friend.  Just as the little speech was being finished, he yelled and gave his paranoid friend a light shove.  He seemed to jump twice his normal height, and fell to the floor.  The sight drew raucous laughter from the rest of them.
    “Oh sure, you all laugh, but when it actually happens, we’ll see who’s laughing then.”
    “Geez Adam,”  said another of the occupants, a short girl with a heavily freckled face, “You watch way too many movies.”
    “Maybe, but all those movies will have prepared me better than any of you.  I mean really.  We’re even the ideal group for a horror movie.”  More groans and eye rolls all around.  Adam squinted at the rest and then continued.”
    “Sheila,”  He said, pointing to the other girl in the group.  She had a tangled mess of blonde hair, and wore glasses that seemed like should have been stylish, but fell just short of the mark, “Is the hot, ditzy blonde that inevitably dies first.”  Sheila clearly took offense to that comment, but was unable to find the chance to speak up about it.
    “Laura,”  Adam continued, pointing to the freckled girl, “Is slightly less hot but still attractive girl that will probably survive until the end, but only after doing some unspeakable action that will haunt her for the rest of her life.”  Laura seemed like she was deciding whether or not she had just been insulted as Adam moved on to the next person in the group.

“Leon,” He said pointing to a thin black guy with painstakingly even hair, “Is the bad-ass black guy that fights like mad and gets killed in a blaze of glory.”  Leon hung his head in his hands, not thinking any of that was a good thing.

“Joe,”  He said pointing to the one who had shoved him, “Is the leader-slash-jock who figures out how to get everyone out only after losing a few others.”  Joe looked both pleased and annoyed at the same time.

“And I,” he said, pointing to himself, “am the quiet person that knows what’s going on before everyone else does, but nobody listens too until after he dies.”  The others waited a few seconds to make sure he was finally done before anyone spoke.

    “Yeah, a few problems with that.”  Joe said, “Our ‘ditzy blonde’ is probably one of the smartest people in school--”
    “Thanks for calling me hot though.”  Sheila said, smiling now that the comment on her intelligence had been dealt with.
    “Leon’s an extreme pacifist who can’t even watch an action movie without getting uncomfortable.”
    “Isn’t saying extreme pacifist kinda contradictory?”  Leon said, holding his chin in his hands.  Nobody paid much attention though, knowing he would probably be thinking about it more than he should be.
    “I’m not much of a jock, considering I only play baseball once a week, if that and then only with a bunch of old people.  And you are definitely not quiet.”  
    “What about me?”  Laura asked, feeling a bit left out.  Joe looked at her a bit before answering
    “You’re not less attractive than Sheila is.”  She seemed satisfied with that answer.
    “Plus,”  Sheila stated, holding up her cell phone, “We’re not really cut off.  There’s really great cell service here.”  
    “Of course there is.”  Leon said, having been brought out of his own thoughts.  “There’s a cell tower twenty miles from here.  I don’t care how much wilderness there is around us, there’s going to be service.”  
    “Ok, but it’ll still take awhile for someone to get to us if something happens.  Especially with the fog.”  Adam said, knowing he would soon have to drop the subject if things went on like they had been.
    “He’s got a point with that one.”  Laura said.
    “Yeah, except that there’s a bunch of people who know where we are, plus the nearest town is only ten minutes away if you drive fast.”  Joe said.
    “Ten minutes is plenty of time for a knife wielding murderer to gut us all”  Adam exclaimed.  
    Suddenly, there was a rasp at the window.  Everyone got very quiet very fast when they heard it.  The sound happened again, and again.  
    “See, I told you.”  Adam said, more excited than scared.  “Now some kind of psycho is gonna murder us all.”  
    Leon rolled his eyes and moved to the window where the sound was coming from.  He probably didn’t even notice, but he was moving very slowly and cautiously, keeping himself lower to the floor than he intended.  He peeked out the window to see what was there.
    He smiled and opened the window, reached out and grabbed a branch that had been hitting the window in the evening wind.  Everyone except Adam seemed to relax a bit more than they let on when they say it.  
    “Well then Shaggy, when does the murdering happen?”  Joe said.  Adam’s eyes widened when he heard this.
    “Don’t you dare make fun of Scooby Doo.”  He said  “Scooby Doo is sacred!”  He went on, expounding on the antics of the animated talking dog.  The others paid even less attention to this rant than they had on his horror movie scenario.  They could at least rebuke that one.  There was no way to say anything to him about Scooby Doo.  He would be there long into the night if nothing happened.
    Fortunately, something did.  A loud knock at the door interrupted Adam’s rant.  This one was far too loud to be a branch.  It clearly had to be a person, or something very close to one.
    “So who’s going to answer it?” Asked Joe.  Everyone looked at Adam and smiled.  
*************************
I love using ambiguous endings like this, have you noticed?   Just be glad I didn't use "I was a dark and stormy night". 

Word: beguile

beguile

\ bih-GAHYL \  , verb;

1. To influence by trickery, flattery, etc.; mislead; delude.

2. To take away from by cheating or deceiving (usually followed by of): to be beguiled of money.

3. To charm or divert: a multitude of attractions to beguile the tourist.

4. To pass (time) pleasantly: beguiling the long afternoon with a good book.

***************************
    “Hey guys, can I play?”  She asked, eyeing the three guys and their poker game.  The three of them looked up at her and then at each other, smiling.  She was a very good looking girl.  The kind that almost seemed to be destined to be a model after graduation.  And they were not about to say no to that kind of girl.  One of them moved over a bit to allow room for the new player.
    “Hope you don’t mind, but we play for real cash here.”  Said one of them.  He hoped she didn’t care about that, not only because of her looks,  but also the fact that she seemed to have plenty of money.  She was wearing clothes that looked very expensive, and clearly designed to show off her figure.  

“Oh I don’t mind.”  She said as she sat down.  “But I hope you guys will go easy on me.  I’ve never really played before.”  This made all three guys very happy.  All three were thinking the same exact thing:  they would inevitably beat her, removing her of whatever money she had on her, then turn around and do the ‘gentlemanly thing’, and offer to treat her to a meal or two to make up for it.

“That’s fine.”  One of them said, “Do you know the basic rules?  I can teach you if you don’t.”  The other two glared at him.  To them, he had just managed to one-up them and get a better chance with her.  

“No, I think I’m ok.  I’ve watched a few games, so I think I know how.  Besides, I’m a fast learner, so I should be able to pick the rest up as we go.”  

“If you say so. But if you need help, just say the word.”  

She simply nodded while pulling out her wallet.  Just as they guys suspected, she did indeed have plenty of cash to go around.  She was given chips from the poker set they were using, dealt her cards, and the game was on.

Right from the first hand, the guys could tell she was an amateur.  Her face told them that she felt she had good cards.  She even looked to them to see what she should be doing with them.  After they had exchanged their cards, she took a few and mimicked them, asking for three.  Her face lit up as she saw the cards.  All three of them immediately folded.

“Yay, I guess that means I win!”  She exclaimed, taking the small pile of chips.

The next hand didn’t go as smoothly for her as the rest.  In fact, she lost it, having only a pair of kings.  The pouting face she made when she gave up the chips just made the guys want her all the more.  

As the game went on though, the three of them noticed something.  She was winning.  By a great deal.  While she didn’t win every hand, she did tend to win more than she lost.  They had no idea how it was happening, as it was clear she wasn’t cheating, and the expressions on her face just about broadcasted when she had a good or bad hand.  Yet, she was winning.  In fact, one of them was out of cash and would be out of the game if he lost the hand.  

He was feeling confident though, since his had was good, a lovely little flush that he thought would see him through to the next hand at the very least.  He looked at her, and saw the same excited smile she wore when she had a good hand.  His would probably be better though, so he went with it, hoping for the best.  But no matter how high he went, she matched his bet, and even raised it to the point where he couldn’t go any higher, even if she wanted to.  As he watched her, he felt like she must have something good to be so confident.  He folded his hand, leaving the game.  

After he left, it wasn’t long before the other two dropped out as well.  They had been beaten by an amateur.  The shame on their faces was visible to anyone who happened to pass by.  

“Thanks guys.”  She said smugly, collecting her earnings.  “Don’t feel too bad about it though,”  She said as she turned to leave, “I’ve been playing since I was seven.”  She walked away laughing to herself as the three guys stood there dumbfounded, and began searching for her next targets.

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

 Yeah, I can't really think of much to say about this one, so here's a link to a relevant image.  Enjoy.

Word: ectopic

 

ectopic

\ ek-TOP-ik \  , adjective;

1. Occurring in an abnormal position or place; displaced.

*********************************  
 It was finished.  After months of work, it was finally ready.  His newest creation was ready for its first trial.  He didn’t actually know what it was going to do, but that was nothing new to him.  Greg Sunders did have a very unusual method of invention after all.  Most inventors spend months or even years doing research, experimentation, and trial and error getting something right.  Greg just put things together, messed around with various parts until he felt it was done, and then hoped for the best.  It was a very hit or miss kind of method.  When something worked well, it usually went on to be very popular in a select field.  But when something went wrong, it went very wrong.  Greg’s face and arms bore testament to that fact, being littered with scars and burns of various shapes and sizes  (some were very interesting in fact, and served him well as conversation starters).  
    Like all his other creations, Greg had no idea what this would do when he turned it on, but given the materials and how much time he had put into it, it promised to be spectacular, regardless of whether it was a success or failure.  The device was only a foot tall, but it was a complicated mass of wires, tubes, cables, lens of various color and composition, and lasers.  At the center of the device was a small, smooth gem, no bigger than a marble, and made of a very rare material of unknown material.  Greg had gotten it on a whim, reasoning that all the coolest things were made of some kind of unknown stuff.  He had quickly started the device, building it up around the gem.

With a hopeful gleam in his eyes, Greg tured the device on, keeping his fingers crossed.  Everything worked, or at least seemed to.  Beams of light shot through the lenses into the stone, which seemed eat them hungrily.  A small, high pitched sound come from it and rang out for a few seconds.  Then, nothing.  It just stopped.  Greg tried to turn it back on in several ways, but nothing worked.  He then went to work on it again, moving some cables around and adjusting a few lasers, but still nothing happened.  Greg sighed, and walked away, now aware that this was another failure to be added to the discard pile.  And he had such high hopes for this one too.  Maybe he would reuse the various components in something else next time.  

Greg left his lab, saddened more than he probably should have been at his failure.  After all , this was not the first time one of his inventions hadn't panned out, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.  But for some reason, this one bothered him more than any other.  When he emerged into the rest of his house, there was something off about it.  He couldn’t tell what exactly was wrong, but it didn’t seem the same, even though everything looked right.  It was like everything had been displaced and then replaced in a slightly different position.  But, there was nothing he could really do about it, and he needed to do something to get his mind off his most recent project.  The only way he knew to do that was to start a new one.  He would go somewhere, probably to the hardware store and the junkyard (his two favorite places) and pick up a few odds and ends.

    There was just one problem though.  His keys were not where they should have been.  As unorganized as he was with his method of invention was, he was extremely organized and precise in every other part of his life.  He always knew exactly where everything was, because he had a specific spot for everything.  So his keys not being where they should be was, to him, a big deal.  In fact, when he looked around for them, they were nowhere to be found.  It was as if they had just disappeared.  Greg had no explanation to this, but since he couldn’t go anywhere as he wanted, he settled down to a quiet night doing nothing much at all.

The day, Greg felt the same thing he had the day before.  That there was something inexplicably wrong with his environment.  This fact was reinforced by more things being missing.  There was nothing important; a pen here, a fork there, his remote control, and a few odds and ends from his lab.  But still, the fact that he couldn’t find them no matter how hard he look annoyed him.  He couldn’t help shake the feeling that the device was somehow responsible for this.  Maybe it hadn’t been such a failure after all.  He went back down to his labs and took a closer look at the device.  Now that he was paying attention to it, he noticed that there had indeed been a change in the area around the device.  The entire thing looked like it was covered in a thin bubble made of nothing but air, giving the illusion that it was growing and shrinking tiny amounts.  Maybe it wasn’t even an illusion.  Could it actually be changing sizes?  Greg continued to study it, but found himself unable to touch it.  It wasn’t that anything was stopping him, it’s just that whenever he went to touch it, something inside him told him not to.  So he left it alone, continuing to study it from a distance.  

Over the next several days, Greg’s environment seemed more and more off, and more and more objects disappeared, and they were getting bigger.  A chair, a lamp, a desk.  Even the kitchen sink ended up disappearing (much to Greg’s chagrin, as the piping attached to the sink had remained).  All the while he continued to study the device however he could without actually touching it.  One day, after finding much of the contents of his cabinets gone, he decided to buck up and ignore that little voice inside his head.  He needed to know what was going on, and the only way of doing that was to study the thing up close.

    Once in his lab, he stood face to face with the size changing device (he was now certain it was in fact changing sizes).  Whatever force kept him from touching it again flared up in his mind, but this time he did everything he could to ignore it.  A he got closer, the feeling in him got stronger.  When he was right on top of it, the feeling was almost painful to ignore, but he managed somehow.  He finally held the active device in his hands.  
    It was heavier than he remembered it being when he built it, and seemed to pulsate with an odd warmth.  He immediately started working to figure something out.  Suddenly, the device started glowing.  No, not glowing.  Shining.  It emitted light from every surface, not just those designed to do so.  Greg felt an odd feeling, as if everything he knew was being peeled away and replaced with something just a tiny bit different.  He collapsed, the device clattering to the ground in front of him.
    When he woke up, he was very certain things were different.  While he couldn’t be sure in the lab, he could feel everything was different.  He left that lab and saw just what.  Things moved in odd ways.  Some were very slow, while others were abnormally fast.  Others didn’t move at all.  Not to mention all the items he had lost were exactly where they were supposed to be, but seemed to be...brighter somehow.  As if there was more to them than everything else.  And there was something else.  As he looked around he saw things.  That was the only way to really describe them, as there was nothing he was able to compare them to.  He left his house and saw more of these things moving around, going in between his neighbors, some of whom were speeding around as fast as if they were in cars, others moving at a speed that made snails seem like speed demons.  

Then he saw someone that looked normal, and was moving at the same speed as Greg was.  Greg approached the man, exchanged the necessary greetings, and asked the most important question:  What was happening to him.

    The man looked at him knowingly, and smiled at Greg.
    “New here, eh?”  He said  “Well then, welcome to perpendicular time.”
*****************************
Muahahahahaha!  Fear the cliffhanger!  Fear it I say!  Oh yeah, I'm using this guy and setting again as soon as the opportunity arises.  Until then: fear!   Muahahaha, and so on.   

word:gallant

gallant

\ GAL-uhnt \  , adjective;

1. Brave, spirited, noble-minded, or chivalrous: a gallant knight; a gallant rescue attempt.

2. Exceptionally polite and attentive to women; courtly.

3. Stately; grand: a gallant pageant.

noun:

1. A brave, noble-minded, or chivalrous man.

2. A man exceptionally attentive to women.

3. A stylish and dashing man.

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

    The dungeon walls were dimly lit by torches scattered around.  The floors were littered with piles of bones left over from other warriors who hadn’t been up to the challenge posed by the horrid creatures that lurked throughout its sordid passages.  The two most recent warriors to challenge its depths shone like bright stars in comparison.  One of them because of the well polished armor he wore, the other due to actually glowing from the holy magics surrounding her.

“Ah, another den of evil to be purged.” Said the knight.  “Let us go forth in the name of all that is good and pure!”  He was already contemplating the upcoming battles, relishing in the thought of killing the creatures within, perhaps more so than a knight of his standing should.

“Indeed”  Said his companion.  Her voice was heavy and slow, hardly a match for the exquisitely beautiful woman it came from.  But he didn’t mind it.  After all, such things hardly mattered when it came to their task of ridding the world of evil.  “But please, exercise caution whilst venturing forth, for calling upon the gods for their blessings of life leaves me drained, and takes much time to recover my strength of will.  If you recall, such a blunder was very nearly our undoing on our previous quest.”   

    “My apologies fair lady, my zeal for justice against these creatures got the better of me on that occasion.  I have since then improved myself so that I will not rush forwards like a blind fool.”  

This seemed to satisfy the healer, so the two of them set off in search of their first quarry.  They had been given the task of slaying the giant demon spider in the very depths of the dungeon.  The soldier that had given them the task had suggested they bring a full party to help them, but the duo had found all others they asked to be motivated by greed and the desire for power, rather than ridding the world of evil as the two of them were.  

It hardly took them long to find the first group of the demons minions.  Spiders, of course.

These were nearly as large as a man though, and there were many of them.  The knight readied his sword and shield and gallantly stood before the beasts.  He knew the only thing that stood between them and death was the good white steel in his arms and armor.  Looking at his companion, he gave the word to attack, and she signaled her readiness in response.  

He let out a mighty yell, gaining the attention of the spiders as he rushed into battle, swinging his sword.  The spiders swarmed him, sinking their vicious fangs into his flesh, piercing even his mighty armor.  Undeterred by such things, he sung his sword at the spiders, executing daring sweeps and lunges, opening wounds that bled continuously, or rendered them unable to move.  Even with his onslaught, the spiders continued to attack remorselessly.  Fortunately, all the wounds in the world would not kill him.  The one he protected ensured that.  As he fought, she chanted holy prayers that cured his wounds almost as soon as they occurred.  She was even able to bring new strength to his blows, inflicting even greater wounds on their enemies.

Suddenly, his life began to drain from him.  One of the spiders had landed a blow with poison on its fangs.

“Hark,” He called out, “I am poisoned!”  Although he could keep fighting even now, he if he died, she would not last long, even with the spiders injured as they were.  He waited for the spell of cleansing that he knew would come.  But nothing happened.  In fact, she had stopped casting spells entirely.  Without her divine aid, the battle was much less sure.  Fortunately, the poison was weak, and had already worn off, and the spiders were injured enough that he could finish them off without her.

That is, until another group of spiders rounded the corner.  Apparently, the demon was no fool.  It had gotten some of its minions to patrol the dungeon, and so ambush unprepared warriors.  The new group immediately assailed him, adding new injuries to those he had already accumulated.  He fought bravely with all his might, but it wasn’t enough.  He fell victim to the bites of the many spiders.  The group then turned their attention to the healer, who had still yet to move.  Or anything else.  The spiders made quick work of the helpless healer, and the two groups pulled away from the now dead adventures.

Suddenly, her voice rang out from beyond the veil of death.

“My apologies I had too...uh...comune with the spirits from another plane of existence and was unable to move because of them.”  She said, seemingly unaware of the state of her body.  

    “Could these spirits not have waited till after our battle?” He said from the nether.  
    “Unfortunately, some of the spirits are very insistent, removing me from consciousness without any notice.”
    “Very well, but maybe you could use your connections with the gods to bring us back to life?”
    “Indeed, I will do so post haste.”  With that, her body vanished from the dungeon.  Transported by her spirit to a safe haven.  Now he merely had to wait until she returned to resurrect him.
    Suddenly, he heard a ringing sound from just outside his perception.  He groaned, got up from the computer and went to answer the phone. 

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

Such a fun word today.  I was honestly torn between this and making it about an actual knight.  Think i made the right choice here?