Gripped

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Oscar returned the clipboard with all of his medical information to the front desk. He wasn’t quite sure if the family medical history part was right, his mom’s side was a bit distant. He sat down in a plastic chair with a thin cloth cushion and then pulled out a small bottle of ibuprofen. 200 grams each, he popped two pills and dry swallowed them, only afterwards noticing that the other sides waiting area had a vending machine. But it was fine. It had to be fine. It would be fine. He checked the clock. Only a single minute passed. He continued to stare at it for what felt like half an hour, and the clock only ticked 5 more times.

A woman in the waiting room forced a cough, and Oscar looked at her. She motioned downward. He looked down and saw he was bouncing his leg. Probably too much. 

“Oscar Soto, please come to the front desk.” The intercom shocked Oscar with its volume and he gripped his chest. 

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The Elf Knight

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Sage nervously picked at his knuckles as he looked up the stairs, but he took the first step anyway.

Rosemary peaked around the corner of the hallway and asked, “You sure now is a good time?” Her long ears pointed flat, suggesting disapproval.

“I, I need to see Parsley. Ask him a question.” Sage spoke with a slight shake in his voice. “I really don’t want to wait.”

(more…)

By A Thread

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The only light in Nick’s apartment was his computer screen, which flickered through several shades and colors as he skimmed his daily feeds. There were Christmas lights that he hung up around his windows, but those burnt out a couple months ago and he never got around to changing them. He thought about unplugging them, but he didn’t want to get out of his chair, not right now, not yet.

He clicked and clicked and clicked, with the light glinting off of the mess he had on his desk. A red glow bounced off the off white old Chinese food box, and then a blue shade hit several empty soda bottles. A white glow lit up his vitamins, still sealed and fresh as they day he bought them. But just beyond the light were some drawing supplies covered in a thin yet consistent layer of dust. 

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Hoof Prints

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On the drive to my new home, I realized that somewhere along the way I lost a button. It wasn’t a jacket button. I would have noticed that earlier, when the wind was stronger and we were packing the boxes into the car. No, it was a button that I found out in the woods one day. It was small, wooden, and had several nicks in it. I sewed the button into the shoulder of my jacket once I found it. My mom always says I’m a bit of a goblin, always picking up and collecting everything I can find.

“Honey, are you okay back there? You’ve gotten a little quiet.” My mom didn’t know about this button specifically, but she quickly realized I was upset by something.

“I’m okay, just thinking about things.”

“You missing the old place already?”

“Sort of, but I’ll be okay. I swear.” I answered her as honestly as I knew how to. I didn’t know how to explain to her about how it all was connected together.

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Oscillate

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Sonia starts to collect her tools and put them back into her toolbox, a small green box with a cord attached to her belt. She leans back on the cushion that she brought down into the machine’s guts a couple months ago, giving her just the barest comforts. She tightens one more valve before putting away one of her smaller wrenches. The glowing light of the screen in the crevice of the machine asks if she wants to “Oscillate.” She nods.

The display turns a bright red and shows the words “DO NOT MOVE, OSCILLATION IN PROCESS.” Sonia closes her eyes and holds her breath as the machine starts to whirl alive. She listens to every hiss and scream of the device as it awakens, mentally marking if any need to be corrected. 

A large pendulum comes swinging down towards the crevice that Sonia is hiding in, just inches to her left. It swings right above the chalk mark that she made on the ground when she first became this ship’s mechanic. The job position opened in the first place because of a botched oscillation. She was incredibly grateful that they cleaned the place up before she joined.

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Saint Asodé

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Dearest Alice,

I know it has been months since I’ve last written. I do apologize for the delay. Life has thrown many odd events my way lately and I have been trying to decide how to address them appropriately. I hope you can understand. I will be brief going through what has happened because I have great news to share with you, my love.

You may remember me excitedly writing to you about Lord Hoare inviting me to his estate shortly before I left. Well, on the last leg of my journey I decided it would be a good idea to take him up on his offer and visit. We were already traveling down from Scotland, so it was on the return journey. 

I expected this to be a short diversion, hardly adding any time onto my journey. I’m so sorry for how late I am to return to you. But it is all worth it, I hope you will see that.

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Limited Release

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Becky slammed open her door yelling “Morgan!” She stuck her fingers in her mouth and pulled her lips apart to show her new braces. “Lewk! Imma monsher.” She gnashed her teeth and snarled at her friend laying on the floor eating chips.

Morgan bolted upright and said, “Holy shit! Was that today?”

“Yeah, sorry for being late. Mom took me to get them today. She had to go back to work, but she gave me money for pizza.”

“Oh, I can’t stay, my brother is going to get me in a bit. I’m helping him with some art project of his.”

“Lame.” Becky moved on quickly and closed her door. “It’s such bullshit, Dad said I wouldn’t have to get these if I got As.”

Morgan smiled. “You failed geometry.”

“Yeah, but the rest were As!”

Morgan put down her chips, stood up and walked over to Becky, motioning for her to open her mouth. Becky smiled wide.

Morgan leaned closer and said, “Does it hurt?”

“No, of course not! I’m not a wimp.” Becky lied.

Morgan laughed a little and flopped down onto Becky’s bed. “You’re so cool.”

Becky’s eyes opened wide. “Oh! You think that’s cool!” Becky jumped down to the floor and started rooting under her bed. First, she pulled out the record player that her parents got her for Christmas two years ago. And then she pulled out a red sleeve with the words “Limited Release” printed in black. Except for a small fold near the corner, the sleeve looked brand new. Becky started to remove the record from the sleeve and said, “You have to listen to this, okay? Just tell me what you hear.”

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5 Tarot Cards

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Today I’m going to be posting 5 tarot cards I’ve drawn and their artistic influences. I hope you enjoy!

The Two of Swords
Renee Magritte’s Not to Be Reproduced
The 5 of Staves
Witches Flight Goya.jpg
Francisco Goya’s Witches Flight
The Lovers
Renee Magritte’s The Lovers II
The Star
Burney Relief
5 of Cups
Pause at 1:30 for the inspiration

So these are some of the influences in the deck. There are many more coming in future cards. The Pieta as well as Gustav Klimt are coming in future cards.

I’ve been kind of busy lately with a lot of going away parties and art shows, so please bear with me. I will be updating this blog with more stories in a bit. I will have a lot of free time throughout August, so hopefully I can get a nice buffer and also work on some bigger projects as well.

The Milk of Human Kindness

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Alex began to unscrew the lid, gently screeching, of a small glass vial. He poured the contents in a circle around the table, just past the runes he found in his extensive research into the arcane and unknowable, which were surprisingly easy to understand.

He began chanting, as one does in situations like this. His particular chant was in Latin, specifically a dialect that has long since been dead, but was commonly found off in a northern set of mountains. As he butchered the consonants, which was not as important as you’d think, he started to light the candles around the table. The book suggested pure white candles, but Alex was hoping that the backlog of Yankee candles his mom had gotten him over the years would suffice.

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