Mar. 29th, 2020

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Sunday challenge time! Your prompt for this week is:

A TANGLE OF DECORATIVE IRONWORK
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The sea bell was old, pitted from years of exposure to salt spray and ocean gales, and blue-green with oxidisation. It felt both incredibly heavy and as though she was holding nothing at all, and Janet had to focus on the reality of it to keep it from slipping through her fingers.

The swan-shaped pedalo bobbed in the swell of the waves that broke around the ghost reef, anchored there by a single strand of spider silk and Janet's own fierce belief that this would work. She slid back the white canopy of her little craft, took a deep breath, and put one rubber-soled foot on the semi-translucent rock.

It held, and she stepped from the boat onto the slimy stone, the huge, half-visible bell clanking softly in her hands. Here and there, ghost shrimp swam in puddles of ghost ocean, their white shrouds drifting dramatically around them. The rising ghost-tide would carry them home, if the seagulls didn't get to them first, and they seemed happy enough where they were.

The protruding spire of rock that she'd picked as her makeshift bell tower was jagged, twisted, and black as those tiny sea serpents Simon erroneously thought he was keeping secret in the tank behind his parent's house. It radiated malice, and streaks of waterproof paint along it's sharp edges told of all the vessels it had gleefully dragged beneath the waves.

Janet wrapped the coarse, heavy rope around one jutting angle, looped it seven times while humming the sea shanty that the Jenny Haniver had taught her. The stone vibrated with outrage beneath her cold-numbed fingers, and she ignored it as it deserved. Murder-rocks with shitty attitudes forfeited her consideration.

The sea bell's clapper was suspended in a protective sheath of blessed lambswool, and it glistened new-penny bright when she slipped it free. Resting one hand on the bell's curved lip, she pushed gently, relishing the rich, deep sound that echoed over the water as it swung on it's makeshift headstock.

"That's what you get," she told the reef that snarled faintly beneath her feet. "Maybe if you'd behaved yourself, I wouldn't have had to bell you."

She returned to her swan boat, ready both for dry land and an end to the sad waterlogged ghosts who kept showing up at the restaurant, soaking the floor. A hungry mermaid grabbed for her and she kicked it in the face.

Ongoing Verse: Janet

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The air from the Pit was hot and fetid, and the light was a blood-tinged orange as Marshall opened one reluctant eye. Beneath the hiss and crackle of the flames, he could hear the far-off screaming of souls in torment, and above all, the steady, insistent panting of the dog nuzzling his face.

"Sparky, down," he mumbled, reaching up both hands and gently pushing the gaping maw closed. The sights, sounds and smells of Hell cut off abruptly, and he sat up in bed, staring into twelve worried red eyes.

He checked the clock, groaned when he saw it was a little past four in the morning. The empty space beside him on the mattress was cold and light oozed beneath the bedroom door. He closed his eyes, buried his face in black fur that smelled of woodsmoke and the screaming void that waits at the limits of eternity.

His eyes snapped open again.

"Sparky," he said. "What are you doing in here?"

The Hellhound looked to the door, then back again. He whimpered, six ears flat against three skulls.

"Okay," said Marshall, reaching for a discarded pair of pyjama pants and slipping them on. He steadied himself against Sparky's broad back as he did so, wondering if it was worth looking for his slippers, or even a pair of socks. Based on the dog's reaction, it didn't seem like he had the time.

He unlatched the bedroom door - apparently Sparky had solved the mystery of the doorknob, which was something else to worry about, should he survive the current crisis - and stepped back as three hundred pounds of coal-black Devil Dog slipped past him into the hall.

He followed the anxious pup down the narrow corridor towards the living room, where flickering lights pulsed against the dirty walls and excited voices conversed in hushed whispers. The television was on, displaying the familiar green-on-green background of the Eerie-tron. On the worn sofa, faces washed pale in the inconstant illumination coming from Corn Critters: The Movie: The Game, were Dash and Simon.

They looked up as he entered, eyes hollow, expressions guilty.

"It's four am," said Marshall. "On a Tuesday. And that games console should be in the Evidence Foot Locker, not plugged in and spewing cursed pixels all over the lounge."

(Sadly, their small rented apartment was not big enough to fit in a dedicated Secret Spot, or even the free-standing cabinet that had once held their evidence. The foot locker was cheap, locked easily, and doubled as a coffee-table)

They looked at him. They looked at Sparky.

"I can't believe your dog ratted us out," said Dash.

"Bad Sparky," said Simon. "Very bad."

"Very good Sparky," said Marshall, crossing the room and unplugging the power cord as the Corn Mother on their television whispered promises of arcane delights in his ear. "Excellent Sparky, who came and got me before you two idiots had your life-force sucked out through your eyes."

Sparky nodded with all three of his heads.

Ongoing Verse: Microwave

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The face stared up at Marshall, eyes huge and misshapen, mouth twisted in a thin, lopsided smile.

"Hey Syndi?" he asked. "Can I ask you something about this breakfast?"

His sister turned away from the stove, one eyebrow raised.

"Something wrong with it?" she asked, her tone sweet apples concealing razor blades and the threat of rather more than a hundred years' slumber.

Marshall spun his plate around so that the face was looking at her. The yolk of one fried egg eye had burst, tear-tracks of gooey orange cascading down the rubbery white cheek and losing itself in the upwards curl of a bacon rasher.

"It's crying," he said.

Syndi looked at it, then back at him.

"It was smiling when it came out of the pan," she said. "Seeing how ugly you are probably made it's eyeballs explode."

She picked up a fork, crossed the small kitchen in three steps and plunged the gleaming tines into the other sunset-golden pupil.

"There," she said, flipping the bacon smile into a downturned scowl. "Now he's blind. He never has to look at you again."

Marshall looked down at his breakfast. His breakfast did not look back.

He shrugged, and ate.


Ongoing Verse: Teller Family History

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The fox pressed it's face against the thin sliver of the open window, which slid open just enough to let the animal through. Dash, sat behind the bar of the Loyal Order of Corn's Day-Drinking But In A Fun, Indulgent Sort Of Way Rather Than a Sad One room, watched as it slipped easily down the wall and vanished amongst the forest of chair legs.

He went back to examining the laminated cheat sheet he'd found taped to the inside of the mini fridge. The fox climbed from table to table, examining ashtrays and half-finished pints with an unimpressed expression, before making the leap to a barstool and then, onto the polished bar itself.

"Hey, kid," it said, and it's voice was exactly what you'd expect from a talking fox. "Can I get a Joan Collins?"

Dash ran one finger down the list in front of him.

"Yeah," he said. "Probably."

"New on the job, huh?" asked the fox.

Dash nodded, one eye on the paper as he fetched vodka and honey-hibiscus syrup down from the shelf behind him.

The fox pulled a small dish of chicken heads towards itself and began crunching one enthusiastically.

"Did you meet the Taxidermied Deer yet?" the fox wanted to know.

Dash nodded again.

"Good tipper," he volunteered.

The fox scoffed.

"Money," it said. "Any dead animal can get money, kid. How about I give you something better?"

Dash cut a wedge of lime, his expression neutral.

"Such as?"

"All the knowledge of the bartending world," said the fox, voice hushed with wonderment. "Cocktails. Bar snacks. Every secret thing whispered in bathrooms, every idea scribbled on a napkin."

Ice rattled loudly in the stainless steel cocktail maker as Dash shook it.

"Money's better," he said.

"Whatever," said the fox. "It was a lie anyway."

Ongoing Verse: Microwave

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Ongoing Verse: The Powers That Be

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One of the watches on Marshall's left wrist beeped loudly, and he reached for the mouse curled sulkily on the dining room table.

"Oops," he said, slipping a loosely-looped tie on over the t-shirt he'd slept in. "Work time."

The screen of the Things Incorporated Home Working and Employee Monitoring Device slowly resolved itself into the desktop of the computer currently sat in Marshall's empty cubicle.

"What are you going to do if your boss wants a video conference?" asked Dash, stepping carefully out of the glowing red camera's line of sight.

Marshall clicked the mouse a couple of times, eliciting an outraged squeak, and then the screen filled with something terrifying.

It was Marshall in the same way that the face of a sentient cash machine had been Edgar. Not so much a resemblance as the intention to create one. Curtains of brown hair sat rigid and awkward atop a face that was one homogenous shade of fleshy pink. Unlike Mister Wilson, it didn't smile, though it did show teeth.

"That's horrible," said Dash, deeply impressed.

Marshall nodded.

"Once I put this on screen, everyone will get so uncomfortable, they'll go back to using chat," he said, grinning widely.

Ongoing Verse: First Kiss

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Ongoing Verse: Teller Family History

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Ongoing Verse: Microwave

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The Roller Rink on the Edge of Forever, Chapter 19: The Edge of Ruin

"What, so this is my fault, too?" Dash asked.

What happens to some more of our heroes after Janet's disastrous attempt to travel three minutes into the future.

Full summary and a link to read from the beginning )

Please note tag change. Also, this fic is rated E for reasons.
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Creamy white mozzarella oozed from cracks in the layer of golden breadcrumbs. Green flecks of finely-diced jalapeno lay within it, filling the air with their sweet-spicy scent.

"Why is it you only ever cook confectionary and bar food?" asked Marshall.

Dash slid a spatula beneath the gooey snacks and tipped them onto a waiting side plate.

"The pastries are because that's what Bert and Ernie teach," he said. "The bar food is because a magical fox traded me bartending knowledge for a second Joan Collins."

Mars blinked.

"What?"

Dash nodded.

"Turned out to be one of those pocket guides to cocktail making and appetisers," he said. "Nothing magic about it, and it was beat up enough that I think he might have stolen it out of a trashcan."

He shrugged and fetched the home-made salsa from the refrigerator.

"Still a lot easier to follow than Old Ned's cheat sheets, though."


Ongoing Verse: Microwave

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Tod set the ramekin of freshly-mixed blue cheese dressing to one side, wiped down an already immaculate and terrifyingly large cleaver with a spotlessly white dishcloth, and picked up a head of cos lettuce.

"Uh, Tod," said Marshall. "Before you cut into that, there's something you should know about lettuce in Eerie..."

"That it used to be a person?" asked Tod, turning the salad vegetable this way and that. "Mars, my folks were farmers. I know about were-lettuce."

"And you're okay with it?" Marshall asked, horrified.

Tod shrugged.

"It's locally sourced, you know?" he said, and brought the blade down.

Ongoing Verse: Janet

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Eerie Indiana

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