Hero's Journey

This is what I wanted: a hero

Someone to help me put out the little fires that crop up around a life

I got: you

teaching me arson
fueling flames that licked my skin
singed my ideals
consumed and scattered them like glowing embers across a sooty sky.

This is what I wanted: a warrior

Someone on my side
Someone at my back through life's battles.

I got: you

teaching me to sow conflict
to beat the plowshare to sword
to embrace its glittering blade
as a woman sheathes her lover
turning submission to power

This is what I wanted: a savior

someone to pull me up
when life overwhelmed
someone to keep me afloat
when I was too tired to go on

I got: abandoned

dropped in the sea of your cast off dreams
left to sink or to claw my way back
from the shipwreck
of all I dreamed you'd be

This is what I wanted: you to be my hero

I got: the hero in me

~~~

This is posted as a contribution to dVerse Poetics. Go here to see what others wrote or to join the fun yourself.

Underwater Bailout

When I left off, my escape from a hunter had landed me at the bottom of a river with a horse stuck on my head. If you want to know what hunters have to do with all of this, look here. If you want to know why I'd run away from him, look here.
And if you just can't fathom how I'd get a horse stuck on my head, here's how that happened. If you're ready to see how this story ended, read on:

My captor rescued me from the river, detached the horse from my head, and supplied "vêtements appropriés".
His mistake was turning his back on me.
Mine was stealing his horse.



His pet eagle was trained to fetch.
There was just no escaping this guy.
Besides, he was starting to grow on me.



This is a good place to close the curtain on this little tale and submit it to G-Man's Friday Flash 55. To see what others wrote or join the fun yourself, click here.

*** I'd just like to add that the eagle you see here was crafted by the wonderful @Ferd_Fredrix and is one of many free creations you can find at Phaze Demesnes (239, 184, 26), his sim on Second Life. I hear he makes really cool dragons too. I learned to make an animated blue whale from the Blue Whale project at his website. Thanks Ferd for making props that inspire my stories.

Investigated and Analyzed

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
I used to wonder what you are,
But up above this world so high,
Compositional data has been gathered from the sky.

Friday night's dream, on Saturday told,
I was sure would come true,
Until facts killed dreams cold.

Lavender's green, dilly, dilly, lavenders blue.
If you love me, dilly, dilly, I will love you.
Let the birds sing, dilly, dilly, let the doves coo.
I did my own experiments and I know that's not true.

Star light, star bright
Science and fact feed our minds right,
But I wish we may, I wish we might,
Have our magical thinking back,
If just for one night.

This post was written as a contribution to Sunday Scribblings. Go here to see what others wrote or to join the fun yourself.

Why I Shouldn't Write Poetry in the Park

My friend said please write poetry in the park,
On cardboard beside her art.
She wanted rhymes,
Which took a long time.
Free speech right ends
At 10 PM.
We got arrested.
She protested.
But Cop's right--
My rhymes should be illegal and not just at night.

~~
I was going to finish telling you the rest of that other story today. But I got sidetracked. Lucky for me G-Man has friends with friends who have friends in high places. I was sentenced to 55 words. Consider the sentences served, G. ;)

This flash fiction 55 is a contribution to G-Mans Friday Flash 55 and a response to his Thursday blog. Click here to see what others wrote or to join the fun yourself.

**The picture above was taken at Occupy SL sim on Second Life. Also, no "real" people were incarcerated in the execution of this 55.

Great Escape

The past couple of weeks I've been using Friday 55 to share the misadventures of a certain erotic romance writer researching the subject of her recent novel.We left off with our poor heroine hanging upside down by her ankles and wondering how you politely refuse an invitation to cherish a fellow's Popsicle. If you've missed the two prior episodes and are wondering why she's hanging by her ankles, look here. If you're wondering what Popsicles have to do with it, look here. If you're dying to know what happened next, see below.



As soon as the hunter cut me down, I dove through a hedge.

Bad move.

His horse was on the other side, and due to something called lag, I wound up attaching it to my head and stuck at the bottom of a river.



Wouldn't you think he'd walk away at that point?

He didn't!

~~~~~~~~~~~~
This post is written a s a contribution to G-mans Friday Flash 55. To see what others wrote or to join the fun yourself, click here.

Research Gone Wrong cont.

Last week I shared a little incident that occurred while I was doing research for Snatch Me at one of Second Life's capture roleplay sims. Virtual worlds are complex to navigate, Second Life especially, and let's keep in mind I was only six months out from my rez date--not sure how old that is in real years--which means I looked and acted like a complete dork most of the time. At risk of ruining my image as a glamorous, sophisticated writer of romance, I will bow to reader requests and tell you what happened next.



What would you do if a giant,
nearly-naked man hooked a leash around your neck?
I took a giant step back.
Yep, right into that same trap.
Once again I was upside down,
nose to nose with...
not his nose.

Could it get worse? Yes.
I think he said this: "So, vous voulez choyer mon popsicle."
???!


~~~
Oh darn, I'm at the word limit again. This little tidbit was posted as a contribution to G-man's Friday Flash 55. Click here to read what others wrote or to join the fun yourself.

How Wrong Can Research Go?

I was hanging upside down by my ankles,
caught in a rookie trap, while three hunters dueled over me.
I explained when the winner cut me loose,
"I'm not here for sex submission.
I'm a writer, researching virtual roleplay."
He nodded and smiled. A leash snapped out,
coiled around my neck.
"No Anglais," he said.

~~~~~~~~~~
Okay, this wasn't fiction, but it happened in virtual reality, which is sort of fictional, right? I'd tell you what happened next, but I don't want to break any more rules and I'm at the word limit. ;)

This post was written as a contribution to G-Man's Friday Flash 55. Click here to see what others wrote or to join the fun yourself.