itsnicoggi

[itsnicoggi]

The Corners of an Anxious Mind

Or how a visit to that mess-of-a-place we don’t like to call home feels.

Originally in: https://medium.com/@nicopoggi/the-corners-of-an-anxious-mind-74ec103175b6

Come on in… You’ve got the keys, don’t you? Well, what am I saying? It’s your place, you know your way!

Wait. Actually, do take my hand. We’ve made some changes. A little reshuffle you might call it. It’s not much, but let me give you the tour.

See? That thing’s here, there’s that, and that stuff you loved to revisit took a lot of room so we cut it in half and stored some of it downstairs. Neat right? I saw it on one of that ‘Feng Shui in five minutes’ videos…

That thing though, the one you seem to be looking is gotta be here… somewhere. Hey! There’s that quirky thought from July 2012, hah! Or was it August 2014? One thing’s for sure, it sounded a whole lot smarter back then.

Moving on… Moving on… Where were we moving on to? Ah! That’s right, the proper answer to the question you’ve just so urgently discovered. Yes, follow me.

Now if you open that red door and crawl through that empiric wall of useless rubbish, you should find the answer just under the paperweight. The green one. The one with the little frame on it? Try the blue one? No? Jeez, let me take a look…

Oh. I see, my bad. This is the room formerly known as ‘the conscious knowledge chamber’. Yeah, no, it’s not here, this is now the ‘obnoxious realizations collection’. I’m so sorry, I kept a record of all the changes, but I used it to light the stove last night because I couldn’t find those damn matches.

Let me take you there, I’m so sorry, I’ve been a dreadful host.

I haven’t even offered you some tea! Care for a cup? Biscuits? Not even a cup of coffee as we walk?

Come on, just a brew!

Like that one time, remember? We had about a dozen cups while trying to tidy this place up. Ha! Awful night, though you had quite the plan, yeah. Too bad it didn’t las…

Okay. Okay.

I get it, don’t give me that stern look. I’m trying to be nice, cowboy, you don’t visit that often and it gets boring. Let’s move up and get to it.

There, down the stairs. Into the cellar. Pass the three doorways, take a left if possible. If you can’t, take a right. Then, search for that familiar scent that reminds you of something… but you can’t quite point out what it is and take a sharp turn downwards.

…?

Are you there yet? Great! I’ll take a rain check on this one, sorry! It’s not really my territory, buddy. Oh, and there were a lot of thoughts and ideas there so I just shredded them and kind of piled them up to save up space… But you’ll be fine, I think they were color coded. So, you can probably put them pieces together, like a puzzle or something. It’ll be fun!

I’ll leave you to it then, there’s a mug of premium roast by the stairwell, my treat.

Happy thinking.

He-yo! Hope you enjoyed this one, it’s a little piece of empathy to everyone out there with an uber-busy mind that just can’t keep things in one order.

Tame what’s tamable, and learn to live with a lil’ mess. Maybe it’s Nick the journalist speaking, but piecing the pieces together always pays off. It just takes some more time (and maybe some more).

#anxitey #anxious #dealing with anxiety #narrative #short story #story #writing #writers #writers on tumblr #fiction #magic realism #surreal #surrealism #mind control #just thinkin out loud #life #rambling #Fantasy Writing #amwriting

[itsnicoggi]

Four-line Tango

Go. Go back,

Back to where the ashes fly.

Don't, oh no, don't look back.

We might whither without you (but you'll never find out.)

#poets on tumblr #poetry #Haven't heard tango in english yet #Gardel rules #All about pride and love

[itsnicoggi]

Floating

You feel it's nice to be out floating?

Wandering about, forever roaming

No ropes, no grasp, reach out, no touch.

Freedom but without the chance to jump.

#writing #poetry #freeform poetry #poems on tumblr #poem #touch is a must #out with isolation #spilled ink #spilled thoughts

[itsnicoggi]

Which kind of day.

You know those sort of days when leaves just crackle up with the wind, the sky's greyish but doubtful, people just all look the same, and there's that same back home you roll down to?

Have you felt the breeze gently wave you goodbye while your heart's pumping hard and your smile shines so bright that all birds could fall blind?

Is it one of those where you're talking your time, walking about and enjoying the sight? Or is it a dull, sporadic fast shot where you skip ahead on the clock?

Two days off one right and seven to come, no clear pattern and nothing to plan. Which one will come you can guess or you cannot. Yet there's gonna be some kind of new day coming tonight.

#writing #poetry #poems on tumblr #poem #freeform #freeform poetry #life #life quotes #living #Coming in hot with short stuff #Thanks for coming have a nice night #Yeah you #Go sleep a bit #Amarula naitz #Rambling #Rambles

[itsnicoggi]

Lift off

Go and fly. Fly into the darkness where we can't follow. Lift, high. High into galaxies we'll never know.

Steady your course and remember us, for we count on your success.

Go into the unknow, take us in mind and heart, but leave our bodies behind, for the sake of our sons, we hope for a better start.

#fantasy writing #writing #fantasy #poem #poetry #poets on tumblr #fantasy poetry #poems on tumblr #science fiction #sci fi

[itsnicoggi]

Gheri - Moonbase N4

The dust settled over the rusted ghetto in Gheri’s 4th moonbase, the one-sided dogfight had ended, miserably. Scraps shred walls, and smoke rose from several crash-points were some of the local hovers fell.

There wasn’t justice, or peace, for the people who worked their bones to dust in these lands. Harsh days at the mine, small platters of gelatinous protein, cold and metallic winds. Still, even when battered and tired, they had things to fear. Scavengers and abusive so-called ‘guardians’ ravaged the citizen’s convoys for mere scraps and a laugh at their misery.

What could they steal from them? Food? There was none. Medicine? They aren’t that lucky. Coin? They wish, and even if they had a dime, what would they spend it on? The Gheri system is no free town, no market, no society. It’s a machine, fueled with generations of slaves, way too far from the Republic’s regulating eye.

These mines provided, cheap, and the ones doing business picked up the tips and went home with a meal on one arm, and a whip on the other.

‘Don’t, don’t cry. This won’t last too long’, Elly mumbled as she wiped the dusty and tearful face of a troubled kid, about the age of 4. ‘Your brother was up there, right?’, she pointed at the shattered recon tower, torn down during the fight, and the kid nodded. 

‘Hey, he’s a smart one, he probably escaped... He’s with the Winter Sparrows now... Do you know the Winter Sparrows? They’ll come back, fierce, just like you... They say their speeders are as white as the dust we breathe, and silent like a winter night.’, Elly continued, in her attempts of calming the boy.

‘They come from aaaaaaaall places across the galaxy, and they’re people like you, survivors. They survived to become heroes, don’t you want to be a hero? Your brother is, he’ll help a loooot of people with the Winter Sparrows. Someday, they’ll help us too. Just wait, and keep an ear up at night, cause’ they’ll zoom by without you even noticing. Go, go home now, and wait, but please, stay safe.’ 

#fantasy writing #writing #story #sci #sci-fi #science fiction #short story #storytime #sci-fi stoy #space #future #universe #galaxy #galaxies #setting #setting inspiration #Sunday afternoon watched way-too-much space stuff and cyberpunk's trailer got my started #cyberpunk #dystopia #futuristic

[itsnicoggi]

Serious Moments in D&D

My party a d I tend to explore serious moments with two layers: respect and scooby-do like background gags

We were going through our sorcerer's reconciliation with a ranger npc party member, who risked her life by implanting her soul in other creatures, which worried our sorcerer greatly.

While they diacussed abd reconciled, our other ranger basically got his pants on fire... Well, got, he pushed the sorcerer's buttons dhring the talk and with a quick hand he ignited then! (He's an ember sorcerer , inmune to fire)

So while the scene that would de-split our party went on... My barbarian, our ranger, and me (cleric), were running around trying to put of the flames with hammer strikes, gusts of ferocious winds, and a curtain.

He flew rag doll style quite a few times. Maybe a lot.

Didn't went well, but hey he gained a scorched butt and I fixed him a toga witha curtain. Oh and they both reconciled!

#dungeons and dragons #fantasy #d&d #dungeons & dragons #elves #roleplay #rpg #d&d story #d&d 5e #d&d shenanigans #storytime #fantasy story #story

[itsnicoggi]

Barbaric, I say!

Got my 4 wisdom teeth removed at once, and I was up the whole time. Except for the anestesia thing, I felt like a barbarian. Doc had metal playing on the background and called my three-root teeth demonic.

God damn curses come in odd shapes these days, but ice cream and pumpkin soup all day long?

Who's laughing now, witches? (not me, really, can't)

#storytime #Story #Wisdom #(teeth) #Barbarian #Palvin #Fuck palate injections?

[itsnicoggi]

“Weird Tales”  November 1932 -  February 1933      

Weird Tales ran a six part serialization of Otis Adelbert Kline’s ‘Buccaneers of Venus’. The first four parts earned a cover by J. Allen St. John. The novel was published in book form as “The Port of Peril”.

[itsnicoggi]

You’ve made me the happiest GM in the world!

[itsnicoggi]

I imagine walking outside my door and finding myself lost Where my last step left concrete and my next lands upon moss Instead of cars buzzing by I’ll see giant butterflies Stirring a warm breeze that encircles me as they flutter by There will be no bus to carry me toward another daily grind But an enchanting steed, a magical majesty, with great wisdom in his eyes He will understand with a touch of my hand, anything I need describe And we will ride together like birds of a feather through day and into night As the shadows grow, a phosphorous glow will illuminate the undergrowth Guiding us on with a gentle hum that resembles beating wings I’ll hold out my hand and upon it will land a tiny magical being A playful pixie lit from within by the magic contained inside With a wink of its eye the pixie will take flight to join the other lights And they will paint galaxies, on the leaves of the trees, with the shimmer they leave behind Gently my steed will whinny happily and I’ll know we have arrived He will lower me down, back upon the ground and we will walk side by side Sharing thoughts which reside deep inside our minds, trading every detail of our lives And thus will begin a friendship, like kin A bond rivaled by no force Into forever we will travel together The girl and the horse

“Another Waking Dream” © Written by Phoenix-In-Ashes (via phoenix-in-ashes)

[itsnicoggi]

Sellian’s Strings

You said there’s no power in strings? My, oh my, dear.

Didn’t they twist and bend, shifting sound into your world? Didn’t they, dear? Oh, a bard can achieve marvelous things when they pluck the right chords.

They make strings dance for your attention, just like the wind dances to rock leaves out of trees. Can’t strings do that? You see, when I play my tunes your ears are with me. Your eyes are with me. Your thoughts are on-stage, by my side too.

And just like the wind, the melody will sway and swing you, little leaf. The constant swirl of music will twist and pull, and down you’ll go, off the tree.

The fall’s long, but bitter, for autumn won’t grow you to a tree, my love. You’ll dry and crackle under my feet, and you’ll be replaced by spring’s new green.

Fascinating, isn’t it? You definitely can’t say what I speak isn’t the truth... You didn’t even notice Brogg emptying your pockets, neither the lack of attendants, after we flushed them out of the bar. One by one.

Now we’ve got the key, the canteen’s keys, and a vault to ravage.

I’m sorry, dear! But my, aren’t you just so guileless.

#bard #bardic #fantasy #fantasy story #short story #writing #writer #fantasy character #dungeons and dragons #dungeons & dragons #d&d #tale #setting #anything you can do bards can do better

[itsnicoggi]

Sea Monster by Juan Pablo Roldan

[itsnicoggi]

“‘Hellhounds’ and canine arbiters of doom have a long history in many parts of the world. Man’s best friend - like any companion - seems to have a capacity for betrayal, or at least, humans are paranoid enough to believe such things. Still, you never thought you would come across a hellhound yourself, despite their prevalence in folklore. Stranger still, this is a puppy. Where you’d expect eyes of molten evil, burning with the fires of ten thousand lost souls, you see only a sort of drippy orange like a cat’s eyes gone a little wrong. The fur which should be wiry and course, dark as grave dirt is actually rather tufty, haphazard and mottled like a freshly turned flower bed. You suppose at a push the tufts could be like grass upon an ancient funeral mound, but such places are usually tranquil in their age. The illusion of infernal power is ruined finally when the “puppy” (still twice as large as many dogs) shakes its head and one of its too floppy ears lays inside out. It barks, and you realise that looks aren’t everything.” Written by Casey Allen [WordLeaves Blog] - Howling Art Tumblr Facebook Twitter Instagram

[itsnicoggi]

If at least two of these tabs aren’t open at all times can you really call yourself a writer?

[itsnicoggi]

Alternative Undead

Zombies are old hat. We know this. That’s why most modern interpretations don’t even call them that anymore. They’re “walkers” or “infected” or some other new name. Either nobody knew what the undead were before now, because of a lack of myth for context, or they’re not really zombies at all, but something similar to zombies, which happen to be a much greater threat.

Both have their place, and can be written well, but that really only changes the types of zombies to two. The old-fashioned lumbering innumerable undead, and the slightly more recent version, which may involve them being faster, stronger, or even smarter, but usually spreading in some way beyond the typical turning upon death, so they’re still scary to a modern audience.

What if being undead didn’t mean you were mindless?

What if it just meant that you were really tired and hungry, all the time?

What I’m getting at here is the idea that the state of undeath doesn’t mean the mind is gone, but that it’s under a permanent effect that renders it extremely difficult for what humanity is left inside not to behave in an animalistic fashion.

Say that undeath means you’re in a permanent state of lethargy. You’re just dead tired all the time, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Rather than the undead never needing rest, what if the truth was that they were incapable of it?

Imagine you’ve become effectively immortal, but as a tradeoff, you’re now incapable of resting, leaving you in a constant state of near sleep, with your mind and body unable to function properly. Now the only way you can possibly gain any energy is through your diet, and the same curse limits you to seeking out the life force of others for that purpose. You could eat any living thing, really. Flesh or blood, doesn’t matter. You could even leach off some of their energy by embracing them for a while, if you could get them to hold still.

Thing is, while your first thought might be to hunt animals instead of humans, chances are that you’re not particularly good at hunting animals. Most of us don’t need to do that to keep ourselves fed anymore, and those of us that do usually rely on tools that we could no longer use effectively, if under this curse.

Maybe you try for a while, and meet limited success, but the drain on your body and mind aren’t offset by the handful of woodland critters you manage to catch and eat. Gradually, you lose the ability to use tools or to move quickly enough that you’d be able to catch more of them. Only thing you can rely on now are what few animals might be fool enough to let you get close without running.

Only animals that meet that requirement are domesticated ones, and most of those are going to have owners, which will be nearby. So one way or another, due to a lack of hunting ability from the loss of mental and physical function, you’re left with other humans as the most viable option for something to eat.

That wouldn’t be so bad, if you could just do the energy draining thing, or manage to feed yourself without killing your meal. Problem is, you’re desperate, you’re irritable, you’re starving, and the moment you get close enough to touch them, they’re going to react violently. A relatively benign and disorienting-at-most hug, while the best option for both of you, is also the least likely possible outcome from that sort of interaction. Unless somebody knows beforehand how it works, trusts the undead to keep themselves under control long enough to avoid death, and there are no bystanders likely to object, it just won’t happen.

The logic of all that would obviously be lost on you by that point, and the option of draining their spirit, if you even know you had it in the first place, has likely left you mind long ago, if it was ever a thought to begin with. Then we see things play out exactly how we’d expect. From the perspective of the living, not much has changed, but the manner in which the undead arrive at that dangerous state is much different. It’s manageable, to a degree, and if properly fed, the undead would function nearly as well as they ever had in life. Maybe even better. Reaching that state would take quite an effort to achieve though.

Extreme levels of fatigue are no joke. Part of the reason this was on my mind in the first place today is that I was hit with a bout of lethargy myself, and nearly fell asleep at the wheel, as I was making an attempt to drive to work. Changed my mind about that partway through, realizing what a danger I was being to both myself and the other folks on the road this morning. If I had to deal with that, cranked up several notches, on top of starving, and being incapable of fixing either of those problems, I have no doubt I’d be ready to attack the first person that crossed my path. I think that’s one side that a lot of zombie fiction kinda skips over. Yeah, they deal with the fear of a bit being discovered, and the difficulty of having to put down a loved one to protect the group. Neither of those address the horror of actually turning, however, and there’s very little in popular media that addresses the horror of BEING undead, unless you’re specifically referring to vampires, or maybe even ghosts. Zombies are nearly always a faceless enemy. It goes with their being portrayed as a horde.

Still, a few tweaks to the concept could make for something interest, I think.

[itsnicoggi]

Impending Doom in the Mines

Drums beat like the mountain’s heart just woke, the end is near.

Marching iron comes forth with gritty teeth, death is stepping through our halls.

Stand, like our mountain’s core. Fight, like our ancestors brawled. Bite and scratch your way out of this life, but leaving a better path for those who stay behind.

Don’t fear the end, embrace it with chaos, make it last, and above all: make it worth your death. Die, die with grace, die with fury, for our children will set the mountain free but only if we scar this day into history.

Forth now! The fray awaits, our rock-solid canvas will be nothing but red this night, so go, go! FOR OUR NAME, FOR OUR FAMILY, FOR OUR HONOR, GO!

#dwarves #dwarf #fantasy #fantasy writing #dungeons and dragons #dungeons & dragons #setting inspiration #dwarves stand as strong as their ale #writing #writers on tumblr #writers #tolkien #fantasy inspiration #lotr #fantasy story #short story #fantasy tale #dwarvish #tale