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SF's "Write Your Butt Off!" Writing Competition XIV


Sunwoo
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So, I wrote this is like...one night, I figured I could do something short with this idea I've had. I wasn't intending to do anything for this competition, but since the deadline hasn't hit yet I decided to impromptu do something real quick.

Title: Old Timers

Setting: It's sort of a Fire Emblem setting, though an original Fire Emblem setting. That doesn't actually seem very surprising, given that most games take place on a different continent than the others.

Characters: Nochtus, Agrippa, Ira, Ustrina, Miles

Rating: PG-13, there is an instance of 'damn' and two back-to-back instances of 'whore'

Word Count: 1880

Description: An old man named Compus speaks of someone who will exceed the leadership abilities of Ireg, the most renowned conqueror on the continent. His four children debate which of them he refers to.

[spoiler=Old Timers]

“Yeah, well I still think the whole thing’s a pile of gibberish!”

“If you think it’s worth so little, why do you keep arguing with us?”

In the middle of an encampment, four generals sat around a fire, arguing with each other. The sun was mostly set, and their words and the fire made up most of the noise. Over what did they argue? Supposedly, it was a prophecy, though Nochtus, the only male among the four, vehemently argued against the idea. For someone who was supposedly of the opinion is was ‘gibberish’, he seemed to care quite a lot about it.

“Bah, because if I don’t keep you three in check, you’ll just make trouble for everyone!” Scoffing, the man crossed his arms and turned his gaze away from the three.

“Nothing is going to spring forth from the ground and kill us because we’re talking about some ‘gibberish’!” Another general spoke up and scolded, fury in her voice. “You’re just scared that one of your sisters is going to out-do you!”

“Ira!”

“Both of you, quiet!” The first woman shouted, glaring angrily between the two.

“Agrippa-!”

“I don’t want to hear it, Ira!” she snapped. That seemed to quiet to group for a moment as she straightened herself, and until she resumed speaking. “Now, whether or not you think this ‘prophecy’ is that or nonsense, I think we should try and find out who Compus has such great expectations for.”

“Compus is a delusional old fart!” Nochtus boomed. “Father’s an idiot for keeping him around and listening to him!”

“Compus has never steered Father farther from success than you have, Nochtus.” These were the first words the fourth and final of them, Ustrina, interrupted with. Unlike the other four, she’d shown little interest in the subject up until now, and had not looked up from a book she was reading during the whole of the meeting. Even now she seemed more focused on that, smirking to herself rather than separate her view from it’s pages.

“Shut up!” the man screeched.

“Nochtus, calm down, will you? You’re making more of a fool of yourself than usual,” the woman replied, as coolly as she’d interrupted, casually turning to the next page.

“You are making quite a ruckus,” Agrippa added. “Surely now, for once, we can have a more civilized discussion, can’t we?”

“...fine, fine, we’ll talk about Compus’s stupid prophecy,” Notchus muttered, crossing her arms and looking to the the side once more.

“Good. Ira, can I expect you to keep calm as well?” Agrippa turned to the woman as she spoke her name. With a grunt and a nod, Ira confirmed that she would, as Agrippa asked, ‘keep calm’.

“Excellent!” Smiling, Agrippa loosened the posture with which she sat. Ira and Nochtus remained in their bitter positions, while Ustrina continued to keep busy with her reading. That didn’t particularly bother Agrippa, it was very common for her to anything while reading, except fight. As a user of anima tomes though, one might say she did that while reading to. “Now, let’s start from the beginning, okay? ‘One of Ireg’s blood’,” she recited. “That means it could be any of us.”

That was indeed true, all four generals were children of the same man, Ireg. He was an aging but brilliant leader of a rather sizable horde, one which had taken control of most of the island they lived on. Ustrina was the eldest, then two years later came Ira. After her, Nochtus, two years later again. Another two years later, like clockwork, Agrippa herself followed, though none after that. Each of them had little trouble earning their positions as generals, as each had an unhealthy taste for combat. In fact, none of the women there had actually had children, much prefer the thrill and pain of battle to the thrill of men and pain of labor.

“The next line doesn’t help much either,” the youngest of them continued on. “‘A skilled warrior,’ heh, again, could be any of us.”

“Perhaps Compus refers to the most skilled of us,” the eldest spoke up.

“So me?”

“No, me!”

“Ira, Nochtus!” Agrippa groaned. “If you’re just going to get angry about it, go to your tents”

After a pause, Nochtus sighed and slumped down. “Fine. He probably means Ira or I.”

“Ira or me,” Ustrina corrected.

“Quiet,” Nochtus growled.

“Anyway!” Agrippa interrupted. “That’s possible, but he said ‘skilled’, not ‘most skilled’.”

“Just tell us the next part of it!” Ira snapped.

“Not with that attitude I won’t!”

Smiling to herself, Ustrina turned the page and began to speak, from memory, the whole of what Compus had said.

“One of Ireg’s blood, a skilled warrior, greater in spirit than Ireg, will prove to be a greater leader and soldier than any other of your kin. I tell you now, Ireg, the greatest your family has to offer is yet to come. Young, strong in mind in body, convicted, hungry for wisdom, a leader to many, from those many that child will climb to greater success than any in this room! For them greater things than the steele’s they make for you will be built! History will remember this child as greater a hero, greater a reformer than you in your peak! It’s a shame though, neither of us will live to see it, unless the gods work some miracle for us, but the chance of that is smaller than an ant.” Ustrina hadn’t looked up from her book once as she said that, though still eyes indicated she’d stopped reading. Once she finished reciting, she wordlessly continued her studies.

“I’d say even Ustrina’s got more spirit than Ireg,” Ira said, glancing over at the sister she’d mentioned. “He’s not been on the battlefield himself in decades.”

“Old man’s more a debater than anything else at this point,” Nochtus added.

“Even then, it might not be Ustrina,” Agrippa began. “He did say young.”

At that, the eldest sister ceased to read, and actually slowly lifted her gaze from the book.

“She is the eldest of-”

“Excuse me for a moment, if I might offer my personal opinion,” Ustrina began, her voice tense. Internally, everyone present either gulped or sighed. “I think I happen to be the best candidate for what Compus refers to. Neither Ira or Nochtus I’d qualify as hungry for wisdom, and as for you Agrippa-” The name of the youngest sister was spoken with poison seeping through the eldest’s gritted teeth. “None of us are as in need of conviction or strength of body than you!”

“I’m sorry?” Agrippa began, scowling. “You think my body is weak, Old Hag?”

“You’re the one to use dark magic, if any of us are hags, it’s you!”

“Hey, what was that thing about wisdom?” Ira inserted her own complaints into the mix, “are you calling me stupid?”

“Or me?” Nochtus joined into the fray as well.

“Maybe I am, maybe I’m not. But as the most well read of us, I think none are better suited to be a leader than I am,” the eldest scoffed.

“You couldn’t even lead your own damn troops if they weren’t already trained!” Nochtus blasted.

“And you’re barely stronger than I am!” Agrippa added.

“Hmph. The fact remains that Agrippa is the weakest, and you two are the weakest of mind. And as for the ‘young’ part, I’m only forty one years old.”

“Sounds pretty old to me!” Agrippa snapped.

“Oh, and thirty five is so much younger!”

“Wait a minute, I’m only thirty nine! You better not be calling me old either!”

“Hah! Look at you idiots, getting so steamed up over some fossil’s-”

“Shut up you hypocrite! All you ever do is get angry at us for doing the same things as you and being honest about it!”

“Alright, now listen here you whore-!”

“OH! SO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT BEING A WHORE NOW, DO YOU?! WELL TELL ME MR. CHASTE, WHERE DOES-!”

“Aunt Agrippa, could you please lower your voice?”

The four suddenly stopped where they stood, blinked, and slowly turned their heads back to the speaker of those words. A young boy, around fourteen years of age. Compared to what any of them had been at fourteen, he was quite well built, despite spending most of his time with Ireg’s fellow politicians, especially Compus.

“Uh...ahem, yes, of course Miles,” Agrippa cleared her throat and straightened herself. She and her siblings blushed in embarrassment. Ustrina quickly turned back to her book, while Ira turned her head towards the moon, and Nochtus towards Miles, as Agrippa was doing. “Is there something you want, child?” she asked.

“I would like to know the cause of your commotion,” the boy answered with a nod.

“Oh, uh, ask your father,” Agrippa indicated to her brother, and stood up. “It’s getting rather late, I think I’ll go to bed.”

“And I believe it’s getting a bit too dark to read my book without a lamp,” Ustrina added, getting up herself.

“Yeah...late…I’ll go to bed too.” With that, Ira came to her feet as well, and all three sisters headed off to their tents, leaving Nochtus with the only of his children he knew. There were others, yes, but he’d never stuck around for their birth. Even Miles he took with him more because he’d been stuck there when he was born, rather than because he cared.

“W-w-” the man fumbled, looking about as his sisters went off, and his son stood still, with perfect posture. “Uh, I, we were just, uh…”

“Sir, if I might interrupt,” Miles started, making no gesture at all. “Does this pertain to what Compus had to say at today’s meeting?”

“Well...yes, your aunts seem to be under the impression it’s some sort of prophecy. Of course, it’s all nonsense.” Nochtus has a tone slightly lacking in confidence, and a posture mostly absent of it as he looked everywhere but at Miles.

“Of course sir,” the boy answered. “...would you like to know what I think, sir?”

“No I don’t,” the man answered quickly, getting to his feet and walking off, mumbling to himself.

All alone, little Miles stood in place, no company but the fire and the sounds of the night. “I think it’s a prediction, not a prophecy,” he began. Now that his father wasn’t there, he instead just looked to where he’d been, imagining some presence to whom to speak. “Compus isn’t spiritual, I don’t think he’d share any kind of prophecy if he had one. I think he just...expects greatness from one of you. You’re all very talented fighters, I…*sigh* you know father…” Miles turned to the ground, and now began to glance about, looking to everywhere but the area around the fire. “I think Compus is hoping someone will live up to Ireg. He’s known him for a long time and has a lot of respect for him. So, since you and Agrippa and Ira and Ustrina have a lot of potential, he expects that you’ll do something good. Or something like that. I don’t know, Compus doesn’t really like any of you, but, you are Ireg’s children, and you are skilled warriors, and...generally, you fit...ahem, forgive me for speaking casually sir. Good night.”

Edited by AnonymousSpeed
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I don't think it's anything to be ashamed of myself. I, honestly, wanted to do more with the heroes of my story but doing what I wanted would have easily kicked it over the 10,000 limit. I should have fleshed Alexandra out a bit more as well... But that's what I get for being hasty and wanting to post before bed.

Yeah, tbh, I honestly think this prompt would be a bit better fit in a long story competition. No offense intended to Clipsey or anything , but I had a really had a hard time trying to figure out a way to get my idea to work in a short story form rather than a novel recounting DQVIII from start to end.
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Yeah, tbh, I honestly think this prompt would be a bit better fit in a long story competition. No offense intended to Clipsey or anything , but I had a really had a hard time trying to figure out a way to get my idea to work in a short story form rather than a novel recounting DQVIII from start to end.

Yea. That's the big problem. The prophecy bit can be difficult to write out in under 10,000, never-mind actually fulfilling it.

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Yeah, tbh, I honestly think this prompt would be a bit better fit in a long story competition. No offense intended to Clipsey or anything , but I had a really had a hard time trying to figure out a way to get my idea to work in a short story form rather than a novel recounting DQVIII from start to end.

No offense taken!

Trying to keep things brief is also an exercise in writing, though this one's trickier than most - you'll need a way to condense background information, the prophecy itself, the fulfillment, and a bunch of other stuff in under 10,000 words. This is why I use a lot of dialogue - what people say can indirectly fill in things about the setting. Like every other prompt, I'll post my take on it.

Edited by eclipse
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. . .and done~!

Gimme a bit to set up the voting topic!

Whatever I had written will have to wait - I've had very little time to do much of anything.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Dragon Quest universe hath spoken!

"Something only Keifer can do."

They're tough. They try their best. They're the hardest worker, the most hungry for adventure. Except...

They aren't the chosen one.

That's their best friend.

Write about a character whose greatest wish is to save the world, but they aren't the one who should be doing so. Show how they learn about their friend's place in the grand design, their feelings about it, and how they learn to cope with it.

Limitation: It cannot be Prince Keifer of Dragon Quest VII: Wariors of Eden, who inspired the prompt! That's a very narrow limit though, so have fun!

THIS looks interesting!

Prompt end is on August 23 at 9:00 PM HST. THE CLOCK

blah2127

jankmaster98

Sunwoo

eclipse

Edited by eclipse
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Mmmmmmmmmeh. I don't think I'll be writing for this. The last prompt was kind of similar, and I don't generally like to have 'chosen one' stories. Last time was a bit of an exception, but for right now, I'll wait until next time.

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At first I thought I had something with Thyme, then I realized she wouldn't consider herself the chosen and, even if, she wasn't Alexander's friend until she joined with him. Ah well.

For the record my prompt was 'A warrior of justice becomes so blinded by his pursuit of justice that they end up doing evil deeds believing them to be good'.

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For the record my prompt was 'A warrior of justice becomes so blinded by his pursuit of justice that they end up doing evil deeds believing them to be good'.

Seems very interesting, but I don't have much ideas for any of the prompts. I still want to participate, though.

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