What In Carnation?
James looked at the red carnation on Cassandra’s hair.
“Lovely,” he noted.
“It smells nice, too,” She urged him.
“Hmmm…”
“What? Afraid I hid a hypnotic in the fragrance? That would be ridiculous, don’t you think?”
“I do.”
“So do I which is why it was in the glass of wine you had at lunch…”
It’s a national holiday around here. On April 25th, 1974, a military coup overthrew the authoritarian regime we were living in for decades and spelled the beginning of a truly democratic regime. Also known as “The Carnation Revolution” what stands this coup apart from many others throughout History is that was mostly a peaceful uprising. Almost no shots were fired and when the general populace came to the streets to celebrations, carnations were put into the muzzles of rifles and on the uniforms of the army men.
Given the date and the significance of it all, I had to choose a carnation as a plot device for today’s piece. However, I didn’t want to talk about dictatorships and whatnot so went with a lighthearted mental revolution.James will never look at carnations in the same way after today.
Flipped Mind
The ball was fired from the plunger, traversed the middle lane, bounced off the bumpers, and hit the nearest flashing hole.
Luke’s eyes were immediately trapped by the explosion of spirals on the DMD.
“I knew I shouldn’t have let you fix my pinball machine,” he muttered.
Standing next to him, his sister Mandy chuckled.
Do you like flippers? I do but, apart from some virtual tables recreations, I was never very good at the real deal. When arcades were still a thing, sometimes I would try my luck on a machine or two but what I enjoyed the most was seeing the colorful displays and all the gears come to life. When it came to actually playing the damn thing, I was more of a “tilt specialist” than anything else. I wrote this one because I do enjoy it nonetheless and wouldn’t mind having a machine in my place.
The characters on this piece are two fairly recent creations of mine, creations that are still being developed at the moment though they’re likely to appear again in the future.
Head Hunted
“God, is there anything more annoying than Medusa Heads?” Bill screamed, controller in hand.
“No,” Daisy concluded, “which is why I modded the game for you. Introducing Mesmerizing Heads…”
Bill only caught a glimpse of the new enemy before his thoughts disappeared. She parted her legs and said:
“Guess where your head is going next…”
Have you ever played a Castlevania game? If you did, then I’m sure you know how aggravating Medusa Heads can be. If you didn’t, all you need to know is that they are often considered to be one of the most annoying enemies in gaming history, (in)famous for knocking players off platforms, petrifying them over spikes or other hazardous scenarios and causing all sorts of mayhem capable of inducing rage quits and breaking controllers and TVs if one doesn’t get a grip on things. Below are some of its variations in sprite form. They don’t look that terrifying, truth be told, but trust me when I say they are.
Game modding is something I admire. I don’t have the knowledge or skills to do stuff like that but I like watching what others are capable of when they get a hold of the source code and begin tampering with it. That was the primary reason why I had my female character use that as a way to develop the plot in this one and it seems pretty obvious the results were to her liking, don’t you think? I hope you had fun.
Beat It!
“Debora, have you been playing with my husband’s mind again?” Melanie asked.
Debora raised her eyes from the book she was reading. “Why do you say that, sis?”
“We were playing a game yesterday, I got a new record. Excited, I looked at him and said: beat it!”
“And…?”
“He hasn’t stopped masturbating ever since!”
Don’t you just love double meaning sentences? I certainly do, they’re great fun and a great starting point for one of these. What I don’t love is when someone beats my high score though. Just kidding, I can be a bit competitive just like everyone else but what matters the most is the fun of it, isn’t it? I wonder if Debora’s husband is having fun. Maybe not but if he keeps it up, he’s probably going to beat a record of its own. Quick, someone call the Guinness representatives!