Word: eidolon, lily-livered

eidolon

 \ahy-doh-luhn\, noun;

1. a phantom; apparition.

2. an ideal.

lily-livered

\ LIL-ee-LIV-erd \  , noun;

1. Weak or lacking in courage; cowardly; pusillanimous.

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     Grena hummed to herself as the trio walked down the wide street. They had finally gotten a job that she would actually enjoy. Not only was it unlikely to be very difficult, it probably wouldn't be all that dangerous either. It probably wouldn't even take very long, given what their employer told them. Not only that, but the guy was filthy rich, and was willing to pay more than their last three jobs combined had. All in all, this was probably going to be a good day for them. Even Lars probably wouldn't have room to complain about this one.

      “I hate ghosts.” Said the swordsman when they got to their destination. Grena was very glad she hadn't voiced that last thought now. The trio had been hired to dispel an apparition--commonly referred to as a ghost—from an upscale inn owned by their employer. The ghost had not actually hurt anyone, in fact it was more of an annoyance than anything. However, it was driving away customers, and so the owner had hired the first experienced adventurers he came across.

      “No you don't.” Said Caruss. “I mean, who was it who spent the night drinking with one the last time we had to deal with one?” He snickered at his smaller companions reaction. The last time they had to deal with an apparition, Lars and the spectral being had hit it off right away, and spent the night drinking. Well, Lars did anyway. Lacking a real physical body, the egged the swordsman on, and reveled in the drunken antics that followed. It was all very humorous, and a great time was had by all. That is until the hangover struck, which is when Lars seemed to develop his dislike of ghosts.

      “Just be glad this one probably won't try to get you drunk.” Grena said. She was very happy whenever ghosts were brought up. She was absolutely fascinated by them. In fact, if she had talents in anything other than combat magic, she would have readily become a Ghoster, a type of spellslinger specializing in the use of apparitions. Most thought that ghosts were the spirits of the dead that were unable to pass on. This was not true. They were actually magical constructs similar to golems, just using the casters mind for a form instead of a physical element. As such, they could look like anyone the caster wished, although they did tend to take aspects of the casters personality. This one was created by a complete coward who had learned ghost magic in order to protect himself. Unfortunately, his ghosts tended to be cowards themselves. This one had simply gotten away from it's creator. It happened sometimes with Ghosters who grew too confident it their skills. Or too careless, simply loosing track of how many ghosts they had at any given time. This one most likely fell into the second category.

      “No, this one's probably just going to run away from our shadows, leading us on a wild goose chase through the needlessly large building.” Lars said. While he didn't exactly mind ghosts per say, provided they weren't given aggressive personalities, he wasn't exactly pleased with this one. It was always a toss up whether or not he would be able to hit a ghost, as not even the casters had complete control over the solidity of their conjurations. This one was reported to be able to move through walls, and so was of the non-physical variety. That meant his job was simply to chase it towards Grena, who would get rid of it with an appropriate dispell.

     The inn was an extravagant thing, meant for the rich, or those who wanted to feel rich every once in awhile. It seemed like the entire thing was made of marble and gold, but this was simply the result of being made from very well polished stone and metals. The trio stood in front of the equally extravagant, pillar lined doors.

      “Alright, let the wild goose chase begin.” Lars said, with a sigh. Caruss opened the doors, careful not to let Lars see his eyes rolling. The lobby was the kind of thing that seemed to belong in the manor of a noble. Plush, red carpets lined the floors, fountains of various shapes and sizes dotted the large room in strategic areas. Large, ornate chandeliers hung from the ceiling, casting magically created light around the room. And cowering near one of the fountains was the apparition they were looking for.

      This one took the form of a very large, intimidating man, obviously the caster's attempt to ward off attacks. It was built bigger than Caruss was, with thick, powerful looking muscles, and a grizzly, battle worn face. It was hard to tell how tall it was, since it was huddled in a corner, but it would probably be around six feet in height. The caster clearly knew what to make to scare people who would attack him. Probably because whoever he was was always scared himself. It would work if it wasn't so humorous to see such a big thing cowering like a terrified child.

      “So much for the wild goose chase, eh?” Caruss said under his breath so as not to alert it to their presence. Lars grumbled, disappointed at being wrong, but happy they wouldn't have to find the damn thing. They still needed to keep it still long enough for Grena to get rid of it. She wasted no time though. As soon as she saw it, she took out her string of beads and began the slow, rhythmic breathing used to cast more powerful spells.

      The apparition must have felt the build up of arcane energies, because it suddenly turned around and stared, shivering and wide eyed at them. A slight whimper escaped its spectral lips, its huge mass already getting ready to flee. It was now up to the men to do whatever it took to keep it in one place. It wouldn't take much time for Grena to finish casting, but it would all amount to nothing if the apparition wasn't there when she finished.

      “Ummm, hi?" Lars said, trying to be friendly. The ghost simply shook harder and took a few steps back.

      “Don't worry, we're not here to hurt you.” Caruss said, holding his hands up to show he wasn't holding anything. Not that such things would matter much to a non-physical apparition anyway.

      “Y-yes you are.” Said the apparition, in a surprisingly high pitched voice. Apparitions tended to take on the voice of their casters until said caster reached a certain level of skill, which this one didn't seem to have.

      “I know you are. Everyone want's to hurt me.” It wined.

      “Yeah, like that matters. You're incorporeal, what do you have to be afraid of?” Lars said, crossing his arms in front of him.

      “Lot's of things.” It said.

      “Like what?”

      “Well, there's mice, big shadows, noises that you can't see where they come from...”

      “My god, how did this guy's creator even leave the house long enough to create this thing?” Lars asked under his breath while the ghost continued listing things it was afraid of.

      “Probably with several hours to psych himself up.” Caruss answered. He was wondering the same thing. Although, as long as the ghost kept listing its fears, it wasn't moving. It may have just been scared simply to tell people what he was scared of. That would probably explain quite a bit about the caster though.

      “Should we stop it?” Lars asked, getting annoyed at the never ending list.

      “Nah. It looks happy. Let's let him keep going.” Caruss said.

      “Are you sure? I think it's just making things up now.”

      “What makes you say that?”

      “Well, since it just said cotton balls, and butterflies, I think it's safe to say it's ran out of things its genuinely afraid of and is just listing things for the sake of listing them.”

      “Good point.” Caruss said, “Ok then, we get the point.” He said to the ghost. “But you don't need to be afraid of us.”

      “Why?” It said, apparently much more comfortable now that it had been able to give a long list.

      “We're just here to make you not scared anymore.”

      “Really?”

      “Yup. That's what she's doing now. She's going to take your fear away.” It seemed to contemplate this for awhile. But by then it was a moot point, as Grena had finished casting. She let forth a small ball of light that shot out, hitting the ghost in the chest, where it slowly began disappearing. It actually seemed to be happy with this as it vanished.

      “Well, that was easy.” Grena said cheerfully. She practically sang to herself as she left the building, ready to collect their pleasantly large pay for such a simple job. 

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Ok, so there's two words today, and there's a reason for this.  See, this story was intended to be written on Monday, which is the word eidolon.  Then the power went out due to Sandy blowing through and forcibly removing power from our house (As of the time of this writing, we still don't have power and this is being done at my aunt's house), and so I was unable to actually write it.  Today is the first day since the storm that I can write and update this, and low and behold, the word is lily-livered.  It just so happened that the two words fit perfectly together in so many ways, I just had to use both.  And this is what came from it.  Ok, so it's a few words too long, but I think everyone who reads this should be able to forgive me for that just this once. 

Word: uncanny

   

uncanny

\ uhn-KAN-ee \  , adjective;

1. Having or seeming to have a supernatural or inexplicable basis; beyond the ordinary or normal; extraordinary: uncanny accuracy; an uncanny knack of foreseeing trouble.

2. Mysterious; arousing superstitious fear or dread; uncomfortably strange: Uncanny sounds filled the house.

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             Jake’s brow was furrowed in concentration as he stared at the screen.  Ben just smiled smugly at his friends determination.  Jake was putting all he had into what he was doing, but it was making no difference at all.  Ben was still winning, just like every other time they played.  After the current game ended, Jake almost threw his controller down in frustration.  It was his game, so how did he keep losing? 

                “Problem?”  Ben asked, watching his friend struggle to not throw something. 

                “No.  I’ll just get you next time.” He vowed.

                “Yeah, sure you will.  Kind of like you were going to beat he the last five times we played.”

                “I just need to practice more, that’s all.”

                “You just keep telling yourself that.  Maybe someday you’ll even believe it.” 

                “You’ll see, it’ll happen.”

                “Not in a million years.  Face it, man, you suck.”

                “I do not!”  Jake said defensively.  He really didn’t.  In fact, he was considered a very good player and usually won online matched.  It was just that Ben was simply better.  And not by a small amount either.  While both were experienced gamers with years of experience, Ben just had that certain talent that Jake lacked.  A fact that Ben never stopped rubbing in Jake’s face, even after ten years of playing together.  “Let’s go again, and I’ll prove it to you.  I’ve been working on a secret move that I’ve been saving for a special occasion.  I guess I’ll show you before it’s really called for though.”

                “Uh huh.  You know, and trick you may have I probably already know, right?”

                “Not this one.  I guarantee it.”  Jake said, triumphantly.  They started up a new game and Ben got off to an immediate advantage.  Ben’s brows once again furrowed in concentration as he set himself up for his last ditch effort.

                “Hey, this looks like fun, can I play?”  Said a small voice from behind them.  Both guys stopped playing instantly, their concentration ripped from the screen by the sudden presence of Jake’s ten year old sister, Amy.

                “How does she do that?”  Ben whispered to Jake, referring to the girl’s uncanny ability to sneak up on people.

                “Didn’t I tell you?  She’s part ninja.  I swear she got switched at birth or something.”

                “I can hear you, you know.”  Amy said.  She was still smiling, knowing that they probably did that on purpose. 

                “Does it matter?” Jake said.

                “Not really.  I just thought I’d let you know.”  She said, giving a quick, pseudo innocent smile.

                “Gee, such a good little sister.”  Jake said mockingly.

                “Aren’t I just?”  She said.

                “Hey can we get back to the game now?”  Ben said, having seen enough of the sibling’s antics for one day.

                “I want to play.”  Amy said, running around the couch and planting herself between her brother and his friend.

                “Sorry, sis, no can do.  This is a guys’ game.  Besides, it’s only for two players.”

                “What, so just cause I’m a girl means I can’t play?”  She looked at Jake, and squinted up at him.  Jake couldn’t refuse his sister when she got like this.  Besides, it wasn’t like she knew how to play, and would probably get bored soon enough.

                “Ok fine, you can play.”  He said, offering her his controller.

                “Nah, I’ll step out.”  Ben said, “It’s no fun beating a little squirt like this.”  He said, handing the girl the controller.  She let the squirt comment slide, joyfully taking the controller.  Jake gave her the list of controls, just enough to get her up and going anyway.  She would have to find out the rest on her own.  He was a good brother, but not that good.

                As the game got under way, Amy strove to get the hang of the game.  It wasn’t enough to beat her brother, but by the end she was giving him a surprising amount of trouble.  When she wanted to play again, the same thing happened.  By the end, she was definitely playing better than she had been at the beginning.  Jake looked at his sister as she smiled up at him while setting up another round. 

                The trend kept on going as they played.  Ben couldn’t help but notice the family resemblance.  Both got the same exact look on their faces when they were concentrating.  However, even he was surprised when he saw how quickly the young girl was picking up on all the little tricks the game offered, and steadily got better.  She might even win soon if things kept going as they had.  A fact that was reinforced by the fact that the tenth round the two had played ended up in a draw.  As did the next three rounds, but by increasingly narrow margins.  Amy was slowly but steadily pulling ahead of her brother.

                “Geeze kid, have you played this before?”  Ben asked between rounds.

                “Nope.  This is my first time.”  She said.  He didn’t quite believe her though.  He looked to Jake, who was apparently just as stunned at his sister’s abnormal skill gain.  If his reaction was any indication, this really was her first time playing.

                “Ever play any other games like this then?” Ben asked, wanting to find out the source of her rapid progress.

                “Nope.  The only games I’ve ever played were the games mom and dad get me.  And those are all boring games about cooking and raising animals and stuff.”

                “It’s true.  You should see her game collection.  There’s so much pink there, I swear it looks like it’s been covered in bubblegum or something. 

                “So then, what’s the deal with this?  You going easy on her or something?”  Ben asked Jake.

                “Maybe a little.” He admitted.  He had been going easy on her a bit, intending to be nice to his sister.

                “Don’t do that.” She said, staring at him.

                “Ok, fine.  I’ll play for real now.”  He said.  He didn’t want to admit it, but at the rate she’d been going, even that may not be able to stop her for much longer.  They started a new game, this one ending up in a distressingly narrow win for Jake.  The next round once again ended in a draw.  The next few rounds ended in the same way, but she was still pulling ahead by small amounts.

                Ben watched the next round intently.  He wanted to see if there was any trick to it.  But there wasn’t.  In this round, she was actually beating her brother.  Not by much, but she was going to win.  And he swore she was getting a little better as she played. 

                “You sure you’ve never played before?”  He asked once the match ended in her first victory.

                “Nope.  I do sometimes watch him play though,” She said, pointing to Jake, “Maybe that has something to do with it.” She said smugly, clearly enjoying her victory. 

                “Don’t get too cocky kid.  I still have a few tricks to play.”  Jake said.  Being beaten by Ben was bad enough.  He’d never live it down if Amy started beating him as well.  However, each time they played, she won by a larger and larger amount.  Finally, Ben made his move. 

                “Ok move over loser.”  He said, shoving Jake away as he stared dumbly at the screen, which showed a very decisive loss on his part.  “This is getting embarrassing.  Let me show you how it’s done.”  He took Jake’s controller and started another match.  Ben managed to win, but not by as much as he thought he would.  When Amy insisted on another round, she closed the gap even more.  And, after only ten matches, Ben had finally met his.  Somehow Amy had managed to beat him.  He wasn’t even holding back on the ten year old.  The two guys simply stared at the screen, dumbfounded at Amy’s win.  Somehow both of the experienced gamers had lost to a ten year rookie.  She just looked at them, giggling all the while.

                “Hey thanks, maybe mom and dad will get me some real games when they see what I can do.”  She said, dropping the controller and running off happily to find her parents. 

                “Ok, so we never tell anyone about this. Ever.”  Jake said.

                “Agreed.”  Ben said. 

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I admit it, I had some fun with this one, could you tell?  There are just some words that I have more fun with than others, and this is one of them.  But I guess that's the point of this little endeavor, isn't it? 

Word: fulgurant

 

fulgurant

\ FUHL-gyer-uhnt \  , adjective;

1. Flashing like lightning.

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               The air around the young couple was cold, crisp, and damp with the low hanging mist.  It was almost too dark to see, but the occasional flashes of lightning granted them momentary views of their surroundings.  Enough not to run into any of the gravestones at least.  The sounds of their footsteps echoed around them, adding to the sounds of the hollow wind and thunderclaps.  A lone crow called out from somewhere around them, apparently indifferent to the thunder and lightning. 

                The small, thin girl let out a small yelp of surprise as she ran into a thin spider web hanging from a scraggly tree branch she had passed under.  She scrambled against the thin white material, trying to pull it out of her hair.  Her boyfriend simply laughed at her antics, but did eventually move to help her pull it out. 

                “You were laughing at me.”  She said, teary eyed once she had been detangled.

                “Sorry, sorry.  You have to admit though, it was kinda funny.”  He said.

                “It was not!”  She said, her voice rising in pitch ever so slightly.

                “Come on Lucy, you got caught in a fake spider web.  Even you have to admit that was funny.”  He said, still trying not to start laughing again.  Lucy huffed and started walking down the path outlined by the fake gravestones, pouting as she did.  Then came another flash of the strobe light ‘lightning’ and recorded ‘thunder’.  She was back on his arm almost immediately.  This time he couldn’t keep from laughing.  All he could do was keep it at a quiet chuckle and avoid her pouting glairs. 

                “Tom, you’re laughing again.”  Lucy said, not moving away from him for an instant.

                “Yeah.”  He said through his chuckles.  The look she gave him just made him laugh louder.  When her eyes started tearing up he did his best to stop though.

                “I don’t know how you convinced me to come here.”  She muttered, more to his sleeve than to his face.  Tom had convinced her to come to a local haunted house for Halloween.  He did it for her sake really.  Lucy was not someone who went out very often, and he had to work to get her to do anything which could be considered fun.  He would probably pay for it later on though, since Lucy could find some very creative ways to get back at people for things like this. 

                “You know, like I do everything.  Butter you up with cake and ask when your mouth is full so you can’t say no.”  He said, a wide smile glued to his face as he looked down at her clinging to him.  Lucy didn’t say anything, since she knew he was pretty much right.  He had even managed to get them to wear themed costumes using this method. 

Of course the genre he had chosen had been fighters of some kind.  For Lucy, this meant ‘borrowing’ her older brother’s old karate uniform.  It was an interesting sight to say the least.  The white cloth hung off her small, slender body so much that she had to use white strings to keep the thing from falling off.  Combined with her shy looking face, big, circular glasses, and brown hair done in a simple braid, she seemed more like some kind of character in a cartoon than anything else. 

                Tom’s costume seemed to fit him better, if only just.  He had used the opportunity to dress up as a ninja warrior.  For him, this meant wearing a black sweat suit, sneakers, gloves, a black t-shirt wrapped around his head, and a set toy ninja weapons from the dollar store.  It was only the fact that he was of Japanese decent that let him pull it off only a little more than Lucy did hers.

                Lucy began pulling on his arm as they walked down the room, shivering from more than the air conditioning that had been turned up to full blast for the event.  She was eager to get out of there as quickly as they could, go home and probably eat some candy.  It was a wonder she didn’t get fat from all the sweets she ate.  Tom for his part, was enjoying the moment. 

He had to admit, the group that did the annual haunted house had really gone all out this year.  Usually they just painted everything black, stuck a few cob webs around with plywood partitions, and had people in masks jump out.  This year they had really put a lot more into it.  Each room in the building they used had a different theme to it, and each was very well done.  The current room was a poorly maintained graveyard.  So far nobody had jumped out at them, but it was only a matter of time really.

Sure enough, just as a simulated lightning bolt flashed, a man dressed, very convincingly, as a zombie right in front of the couple.  As he made to grab at them, Lucy shrieked and lashed out with her fist in a wide arcing punch.  Her blow struck the man just above his jaw.  He staggered back a bit, and a slew of curses and swears that would make a sailor proud issued forth from behind the zombie mask. 

“What the hell!?”  He asked quickly removing the mask.  Lucy had retreated behind Tom’s back, cowering behind him like a five year old clinging to her mother on the first day of school.  “What was that for?”  He asked, rubbing the place he had been hit.  Tom raced to think of something to say.

“I guess you just did your job really well?”  He said, hoping the cloth in front of his face would hide his panic.  “See, she’s kinda skittish, and well, that is a really good mask you have.”  The man didn’t seem convinced.  Tom turned to face Lucy, who was hiding behind him as best she could, rubbing the hand she had used.

“I hurt my hand.”  She said weakly.

“You hurt my face!”  The guy said over another round of recorded crow caws and thunder claps. 

“Ok Lucy, we’ll deal with your hand later.”  He said, ushering her around in front of him.  “Let’s deal with this now.”  He said quietly.  Lucy couldn’t bring herself to look the man in the eye.  Instead she cast her gaze down at her own feet, wringing her hands nervously.  Her eyes were tearing up again and Tom could swear her heard her whimpering slightly. 

“S-sorry.”  She said, like a child who had got caught with a hand in the cookie jar.  It was really hard to think that she was in her mid twenties acting—and dressed—as she was.  Yet, it was this very quality that seemed to work to calm the man down a bit.  Still, he wasn’t exactly please with them.

“Yeah, yeah.”  He said, “I think it would be best if you guys left now.”  He said, obviously trying to keep himself angry despite the display Lucy was putting on. 

“Right.”  Tom said, placing his hands on her shoulders and leading her away.  “Come on Karate girl, let’s go home.”  Lucy nodded silently.  The two walked side by side, Lucy still hanging her head and rubbing her hand.  Another flash of strobe lit lighting and recorded though, and she was once again clinging to Tom’s arm.  He sighed, smiled at her and led them out, into the more natural cool October air.

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I can be so mean to my characters sometimes, can't I?  Well, when the story calls for it any way.  

Oh, and just remember, Halloween is now exactly two weeks away (no really, it's two weeks to the day at the time of this posting).  You know what your going as yet?  'Cause I sure don't.  Although...I do have some ideas that I can pull off on short notice if I need to...   

 

word:zeugma

 

zeugma

\ ZOOG-muh \  , noun;

1. The use of a word to modify or govern two or more words when it is appropriate to only one of them or is appropriate to each but in a different way, as in to wage war and peace or On his fishing trip, he caught three trout and a cold.

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               Flowers.  Zack needed to buy flowers.  And time.  As much of each as he could.  He had a few hours while Cindy was in the gym, and that was it.  He had messed up big time in the morning, he could not afford to screw up the evening. 

                Zack had committed one of the cardinal sins of a relationship:  he had forgotten his girlfriend’s birthday.  When Cindy had woken up, and he had not immediately wished her a happy birthday, she had not exactly been happy.  He had gotten around it by saying that he had something in store for her later in the day.  So now he was scrambling around trying to find something that would keep him safe.  Cindy was not a girl one wanted to anger. 

                Should he buy chocolates?  No.  No he should not.  That would only make things worse for him.  Cindy was a very dedicated athlete, and had a strict diet.  One that chocolate was not a part of.  If he got her some, she would probably see it as insulting her by trying to undo the effort she put into her body. 

                Cindy was not just an athlete.  She was a fitness competitor.  That meant she spent quite a bit of time in the gym in addition to her diet.  While she was by no means going for strength or size, since those in her line needed a more toned, fit look, she was still not exactly weak.  In fact, she could bench press almost as much as he could even though she weighed twenty pounds less.  As such, getting on her bad side was not something that would end well for him. 

                Perhaps treating her to dinner would work.  The only problem was that restaurants that were both upscale enough to satisfy his current need and catered to her dietary needs were slim to none.  Certainly none existed within his price range.  Maybe he could cook something for her.  That would work well if he got it right.  Both of them usually cooked for themselves, since they ate so differently.  Zack did however, watch Cindy cooking for herself closely enough that he knew what to do.  More or less anyway.  Maybe he could even use some of them methods used in the creation of his own meals for this one to give her something new and (hopefully) satisfying.  It was a long shot, but it was all he had.  After all, flowers could only get him so far.

                He passed by a bakery and had an odd thought.  Maybe they had some kind of low fat cake or something.  No, that probably wouldn’t work.  Even if they did, Cindy probably wouldn’t believe it.  He would have to make do with a nice dinner and hope for the best.  He headed to the supermarket and picked out everything he needed, picking things out both on his gut reaction, and what he had seen her using in the past.  He would wing it when he started cooking. 

                Having bought what he felt he would need, he headed home and hoped that she hadn’t gotten home yet.  Luck was not on his side today, as Cindy’s car was parked in the driveway.  No doubt she was waiting for him and his excuses.  Well, at least he could give one with reasonable believability and hopefully certainty.  After all, most of what he had bought was fresh and so he could just say that he was waiting to get only the freshest things for the romantic dinner he had planned.  He got the bags of food from the car and took a deep breath, reading himself for the onslaught that was about to happen.      

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Blarg.  I didn't like this one.  This week hasn't exactly been good to me for words of the day.  So it was either this or hope Saturday gives me something better.  Not sure if I made the right choice here.  Heck, I'm not even sure if I made use of the word properly, since the word structure it describes was only used once or twice.  Well, it is what it is.  Hopefully you all like it in spite of its faults.