Gender Bender
Under Michelle’s watchful eye, Jack adjusted the helmet and stared at the translucent visor.
“Mental reprogramming at 25%,” he read.
His legs began to tremble.
“Mental reprogramming at 50%”
His breathing slowed down.
“Mental reprogramming at 75%”
His vision began to blur.
“Mental reprogramming at 100%”
Jane removed the helmet and knelt before her owner.
The piece above describes a common fantasy for many people. I’m not one of them but, just like yesterday’s foray, it all comes down to the fact of whether it’s worth pursuing an idea or not. My primary instinct usually says ‘yes’ so I listened to it once again. Identity is a construct and so is gender perception. Sometimes, the lines pervading each one of these constructions are easily blurred. I suppose this short story rests in the middle of such blurriness.
A “Mother’s” Gift
“Happy Mother’s Day!” Camille’s husband muttered.
“Happy Mother’s Day!” her brother repeated.
“Happy Mother’s Day!” echoed her uncle.
“Happy Mother’s Day!” her boss droned.
“Happy Mother’s Day!” the mailman parroted.
“We love you, Mommy!” they all sang in unison.
“I know you do,” she said in her most entrancing voice before reaching for their diapers.
Seeing today is Mother’s Day in many parts of the world, I would like to leave a message to all women who have embraced motherhood. You’re all beautiful, bearers of life, and deserve to be celebrated all the time.
HSC
“… and it’s all settled. We have a winner, Europe. With 321 points and 0 chances of anyone saying otherwise, the victor of this year’s Hypnotic Song Contest is… Portugal! Let’s welcome the interpreter on the main stage to… oh, he seems to be fast asleep and… hmmm, why is his sister whispering in his ear?”
Last weekend, the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 took place in the city of Kiev, Ukraine and the spectacle ended going against the norm by awarding the prize to the Portuguese entry, a very mellow song, in direct contrast with most of the high-budget productions that shone under the spotlight.
Despite having won both the jury and televoting, a lot of controversies hit the Internet shortly after the show was over, with lots of comments claiming such things as “worst winner ever!”, “such a boring song” or “if I’m ever feeling insomniac, listening to this should take care of it in no time”, etc.
Personally, I congratulate the victors but, in the world of my writings, what puts people to sleep are hypnotic songs I decided to play a bit with this whole thing. Naturally, I had to change the script a bit and even added a sneaky countdown to it all. I’m sure you can imagine on your own what transpired afterward.
Snake Beater
“Snake, did you just…?”
“Hmmm.”
“You’re supposed to be a super soldier. Don’t you have anything better to do?”
“Love can bloom when one least expects, Otacon.”
“I’m not sure jerking off inside a locker room counts as love. What’s gotten into you?”
“Nanomachines.”
Meanwhile, halfway across the world, Dr. Naomi Hunter laughed out loud.
The Metal Gear video game franchise has always been a weird one.
On the one hand, it deals with very heavy themes such as the atrocities of war, the impact of genetics, what personal identity really is, among other things. On the other, it does so in a world filled with quirky characters, offbeat humor and moments that constantly break the fourth wall.
Mind control themes also pervade the series, most notably brainwashing and hypnosis, but nanomachines are used to explain just about everything. It something is off, you can bet these insidious little things have something to do with it.
In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, there’s this very curious Easter egg that takes place inside a locker on the tanker chapter. In a game filled with mindfuckery, this is one of those that have no reason whatsoever to be there except to satisfy some bizarre fetish by series creator Hideo Kojima. Nonetheless, the Easter egg gained notoriety over the years and even became a trophy/achievement in the HD re-release of the action-adventure stealth game. I wrote this piece because of it – as evidenced by the title -, adding my own twist to fit the female dominant nature of this challenge. I hope the purists will forgive me the mention of a character that doesn’t really appear in said game, but I also hope they’ll appreciate a certain strange reference of my own to another dialogue sequence in the original Metal Gear Solid. A weird series deserves a weird writing and I’m a weird person too so… perfect storm? Enjoy this 55-words codec conversation and until tomorrow.