February 2015 75-word Writing Challenge -- VICTORY TO TELFORD!

[StilLearning]

Unnatural Death report:

At 9.15 pm Mr Carter was seen outside Howards tavern. He was described as ‘hammered’ by witnesses, and was observed using his phone. The call lasted some 27 minutes, apparently regarding a loan.

At 9.45 pm a Demon arrived by portal, and removed Mr Carter’s internal organs.

Phone records show that Mr Carter had called a help desk in the financial district of Hell, and had reversed the charges.

Verdict: Death by stupid.

 

[martin321]

The Carnival's Coming to Junktown

It wasn't every day that the carnival came.

Voices over the static had brought the news.

Children pressed up against the fence around the port. The ship was much smaller than those that arrived daily, depositing their contents on the heap that now covered half the island.

Drab performers descended the ramp to disappointed sighs, but cheers broke out when the first dinosaur emerged.

***

From her hiding place, Lily heard the first screams.

 

[Azzagorn]

A Very Magical Dysfunction

"It happens to everybody sweety." She said to me with no hint of sarcasm. I know she is lying, trying to make feel better. I've seen the infomercials on the tv this happened to two in ten people. This is a carnies worst nightmare.
A inability to perform even the simplest conjurings. The shamans say a mana pill will alleviate, for a time. Though I cannot see one little blue pill making this better.

 

[Culhwch]

Masquerade

She moved like languid smoke, lithe, long, tanned. Beads clattered around me as I chased her through stumbling, drunken merry-makers.

I caught her in an alleyway. Time slowed all around. The music, loud and fast one moment, became sombre, sedate.

‘My love?’

She turned. It wasn’t my Grace. How could it be?

‘Sorry. I thought you were someone else.’

She smiled, her features shifting. ‘I can be whoever you want, sweetie. For a price.’

 

[Darkchrome]

Scream, If You Want To Go Faster

“Are you sure about this? I get sick so easily now.”

“It’ll be fine, just like the old days.” We climbed into the Waltzer and it started to spin.

Metal Guru is it you...

The gaff lad jumped deftly onto the edge of the car.

“Hello girls.”

I looked across at my sister; the lines gone from her face, teenage blonde curls wild behind the headscarf. She grinned. We threw our heads back and screamed.

 

[Moonbat]

They all have floats round here.



Darcy: ...congratulating that octopus. The next float is 'the ancient ones'.

Ben: Cthulhu really lets his tentacles down at carnival.

Darcy: Playing the pantomime villain with Yog Sothoth (in drag) as the heroine.

Ben: He's hamming it up for the kids.

Darcy: So nice to see, he may portend our doom but he joins in the fun.

Ben: He'll be devouring souls come tomorrow, but today he's...

Darcy: Look he's waving his wings.

Ben: Fantastic.

 

[Perpetual Man]

2005

Katrina they named her; no delicate lovers kiss from her. Rather a savage beating that left everything broken and bruised.

They tried to abandon me then, citing cost and trauma.

But my Krewes knew. That celebration; that I could help heal. They fought bureaucracy, my heart beat on.

Oh it took time to heal, but I was allowed to live. Even the beaten but unbroken cheered.

I am the Mardi Gras and I am magic!

 

[Parson]

The Genesis of an Evil Idea​

Dawn painted the sky. Scarface shuddered. Mardi Gras was disintegrating into Ash Wednesday. There were opportunities for a demon in Lent, but he found less enjoyment. Getting a nubile wench to eat chocolate wasn’t the same as getting her to flash her assets. It was the same result - but still. He should tempt that CNN producer to run an expose about the stupidity of Christian morality. Scarface smiled. Lies that blasted the enemy were fun.

 

[BigJ]

The Legend of Katrina

She swished and sashayed down the street
Body moving in time with the beat
With a wave of her hand
Rain covered the land
“Here a Carnival for those with webbed feet!”

“Is that really how it happened, Dad?”

“Absolutely.”

“Will she ever come back?”

“Yes, son. You’ll see Bourbon Street one day.”

“I sure hope so. Can you tell me about it again?”

“Not tonight. Finish your seaweed and swim off to bed, okay?”

 

[The Judge]

Grave Mistakes at the Mardi Gras


“He’s gone too far this time,” said Comida.

Every year, Senhor Gatinho’s incarnations “Putting Carnivores into Carnival!” – margays playing the maracas, servals dancing the samba, once even a cougar doing the conga. But turning himself into a full-grown tiger, no matter how Terpsichorean, and frightening the birds-of-paradise pirouetters...

“I’m pulling him from the parade,” said Comida, striding away.

Just then a lambada-dancing lynx appeared. Senhor Gatinho.

Comida pulled.

The tiger growled.

Everyone screamed.

 

[jastius]

Enchantment's End

Tia smiled brightly at the king on the parade float tossing throws.

Let her stepsisters play debutante! She laughed, happy.

He grinned, tossing Tia his own gold locket necklace.

Inside held the king's ball invitation wrapped in silk Tia slowly unwound into... a dress.

Arriving just before midnight, shimmering in her fairy gown, the king swept her onto the floor.

The clock struck, ending her enchantment with Tia in his arms.

"Oberon?"

"My Titania!"

 

[TheDustyZebra]

A Bargain at Twice the Price


Sarah sold her soul to the potion woman for a taste of true love.

We had three years, before she died.

Now, in a niche between Fortunes! and Transformations!, I find that dealer of diablerie.

“Give me back my love.”

“You know the price.”

“Yes.”

I drink, and she is there.

I step out of my body and take her hand.

Together again, we waft our way through streets aswirl with colors, lights, and life.

 

[Ursa major]

​

Carne levare
(‘to remove meat’)
​

“You’re looking a bit mardy.”

“You’d be too,” Jane replies. “My Carnival date, Geoff, is a cannibal. He boasted it lent a taste of danger to the afternoon.”

“Very festive,” I say.

“And while I’m an expert in… er… transformative spells, they don’t affect the appetite.” Jane points at Geoff pushing through the crowd towards us.

“I’ve just the right spell….” A brief incantation and ‘he’ is naked. “How’s that for a Brazilian?”

​

 

[Ursa major]

This Challenge is now closed to new entries, and voting is open at the link below:

POLL -- FEBRUARY 2015 75 Word Challenge -- READ FIRST POST!​