November 11, 2017 :: Today's Words: 2,260 :: Total Words: 9,178

“Yes, my goddess. Sirona, goddess of healing. She is in the spring.”

“In the spring?”

“In any spring, really. Hot ones, though, not cold ones. I bathe in it daily to commune with her.”

Sabitri inhaled to say something more, but Jigme put a hand on her knee and she closed her mouth with a click.

“You’ll have to excuse Sabitri, Alaina. She became disillusioned with the supernatural when she was quite young.”

Alaina refrained from commenting on how young Sabitri seemed to still be. She couldn’t wrench her eyes away from that hand. He didn’t remove it immediately; her intuition had, it seemed, been correct. Sabitri was Jigme’s new lover.

I didn’t really expect him to wait for me, she thought. I didn’t think I was coming back. Still.

Alaina finally closed her eyes for a moment, to get her eyes away from that hand. When she opened them, Sabitri was smirking at her.

“So, Sabitri, tell me what brings you to the revolution, and why you don’t believe in the supernatural.”

Introduce a character who worships Nanna.

Achird paced the cell. Ten steps across, fifteen steps long. One bed, one toilet, one sink, one small desk, one metal chair. A window, barred and alarmed. A door with a grate over the small window in its centre, ensuring no privacy.

Finally he stopped and sat down at the desk. He opened a drawer and retrieved a small book. It was black, leather-bound with gilt edges, and it contained his scriptures.

He opened it to his marked place and began to read, his lips silently forming the words as he went. After a few pages he stopped, replaced his bookmark, and set the closed book on the desktop. He closed his eyes and folded his hands, resting his forehead on his thumbs.

“Holy Nanna, I come to you in search of wisdom,” he murmured. “I do not know what will happen to me next, but I know that you will guide me through this time of trial.”

A sense of peace swept over him and he felt a tear roll down his cheek. Nanna was truly good.

A mysterious stranger gives your character a quest. They must deliver iPad to Armenia.

Robin squinted at her computer screen. Jake had done an admirable job with her new computer, and it was working properly finally, but she couldn’t figure out how to fix the monitor resolution. She sighed and picked up the phone.

“Hi, IT? Yeah, I need someone to fix the resolution on my monitor. It’s way too small and I can barely read it. I’d do it myself, but I can’t find the right settings.”

The person on the other end promised to send someone right away, and she sighed as she hung up the phone. She hoped this would be the last time she needed help with the computer; she needed to get her work done.

Since she couldn’t use the computer, she turned and pulled a pad of lined paper over to her and picked up a pen. She started writing down all of her ideas for every project that was currently on her plate. Brainstorming like this often let her get things better organized, and today was no different.

Just as she was picking up steam, someone knocked on the door. “Come in,” she called, focused on her work.

The door opened and a man came in.

“Are you here about the monitor?” she asked. “Just let me finish this thought and I’ll be able to focus.”

She finished what she was writing and looked up.

The man was wearing a black suit and a red tie. His brown hair was cropped close to his head, and he had a pair of sunglasses in his pocket.

“Robin McIntyre,” he said.

“Yes, that’s me. And you are…?”

“Bob.”

“Uh-huh.” Robin rolled her eyes and glanced at her papers. “Are you from IT?”

“No, I’m from CSIS.”

Robin’s head snapped up. “CSIS?”

A single nod in response.

“But I haven’t… I mean, I quit. Two years ago.”

“You can’t really quit CSIS.”

Robin sighed. She should have known.

“What do you need?”

Bob reached into his inside jacket pocket and retrieved an envelope. Wordlessly, he placed it on the desk.

Robin opened it and pulled out the mission briefing papers. Scanning them quickly, she asked, “When do you need it done by?”

“Immediately.”

“Armenia isn’t exactly next door.”

“You can fly as a tourist and go to the consulate. Deliver the package there and you’ll be fine.”

Robin snorted. “You don’t need me for something that simple.” She looked him in the eye. “Truth.”

“I choose dare.”

“That’s not an option.”

Bob sighed and sat down in the chair across from her. “Okay, you’re delivering an iPad to the consulate. It’s vital that it get there as soon as possible, because we have another operative working to retrieve some plans that the iPad will be instrumental in understanding and using. This other operative is well-connected and extremely efficient, and we need the iPad in place before the plans arrive.”

“And you need me to take it to Armenia because…?”

“You’ve been out of circulation for a while. They won’t be expecting you. Most of our current operatives are too well-known.”

“As operatives?”

He nodded. “We had a security leak. All current operatives’ files were hacked. Only the files that are in long-term storage were ignored.”

Robin rolled her eyes. “And we pay taxes for this.”

“Yeah, well, so do we.”

Robin looked down at her papers and then back up at Bob. “I guess I don’t really have much of a choice. If you need me, you need me.”

“Excellent.” He reached into his jacket pocket again and handed her a plane ticket. “The iPad will arrive at your apartment tonight, via courier.”

Robin opened the plane ticket and looked at the details. “At least I’m flying first-class for once in my life.”

“Ah, yes, about that.” Bob looked pointedly at her shirt. “Dress like a rich tourist, if you can. Not sensible, just comfortable but rich-looking, if you know what I mean.”

Robin looked down at her shirt. It was a blue and white blouse that she had picked up at the thrift store the month before. “I understand.” I’ll have to go shopping, but I understand.

Bob pulled a card out of his jacket pocket, and Robin wondered how much he’d stuffed in there before coming to see her. “This is a company card,” he said as he placed it on the desk. “Take the afternoon off from work and go shopping. I recommend the Bay, or whatever couture shops exist in this god-forsaken city. Find yourself some rich tourist type clothes, but make sure you choose things that will be appropriate for Armenia.”

Robin turned to the computer and then shook her head at the display. “What’s the weather like there this time of year?”

“Warm but not hot,” came the reply.

“Anything touristy I should be planning to do while I’m there?”

“Parks, the beach, a monastery… it’s not a bad place to visit.”

Robin nodded. “Okay. What’s the limit on this?” she asked as she picked up the card.

“I didn’t ask.”

That usually meant that she could spend as much as she needed or wanted to spend. She was good with that.

“Okay then. I will be at the airport two hours before my flight.”

Bob nodded and stood up. “Thank you, Robin. We at CSIS truly appreciate your service.”

Robin stood up too. “Whatever.”

Bob opened the door to reveal Jake, the sparkly IT guy, about to knock. “Hi Robin!” Jake said cheerily. “They said you were having trouble with your monitor, so I came to see what’s going on.”

Robin quickly swept the papers and credit card into the envelope. “Thanks for coming by, Bob. I’ll be in touch.”

He nodded and left. Robin turned to Jake. “Please come and look at this. It’s too small and I can’t read anything, so I can’t fix it, either.” She stepped away from the desk to allow him past.

Jake sat down and squinted at the screen, then nodded. “Oh, I see what happened. Here, I can fix this for you in a flash.”

Robin nodded and retrieved her purse from the bottom drawer of her desk. She tucked the envelope inside and then returned the purse to the desk, making sure to lock it—something she rarely did, but she also rarely had sensitive documents and an unlimited credit card in her purse.

Jake fixed the monitor display and stood up. “How’s that?”

Robin sat down in the chair and looked at the screen. She moved the mouse a bit and nodded. “This looks much better, thank you.”

“No problem! I’ll see you around.”

Jake waved and left the office, closing the door behind him.

Robin put in her request for a week off to HR and then sent the e-mails she needed to send about the Christmas party. She copied necessary documents to her work-provided tablet so she could continue to manage things while she was away, and let the rest of the people in her department that she’d be gone for a while but available via e-mail and text message for the duration.

And then she got her purse, made sure everything was there, and left to go shopping.

Your character finds the only remaining example of some help for their ailing brain on the entire planet. What do they do with it?

Harold Martlett spent most of his days trying to remember. It was hard, but he did his best every day to find a way through. Some days he wasn’t sure what he was trying to remember, just that he needed to remember.

On this particular day, he had gone outside for a walk with one of the aides in his long-term care home. The grounds here were beautiful gardens, and he often found that walking among the flowers and trees allowed him to remember things more easily.

“Mr Martlett,” the aide said, “maybe we should go this way.” The man was pointing down a path that ran perpendicular to the one they were walking on.

Harold had a very strong feeling that he needed to keep going straight. “No, we should keep going this way,” he said.

The aide, who Harold thought was named Maurice but might actually be named Marius, or maybe Derek, shrugged and followed along with his charge. As long as they got back to the main building in time for meds, it wasn’t really a problem.

They followed the path between two lines of trees. The boughs of the trees formed an arch over their heads, shielding them from the sun. It was cool in the shade, and a light breeze blew through the boulevard.

“We should go this way,” Harold said, and took off down a small deer path to the left. It was late fall, and the leaves under his feet crunched as he walked. The aide followed slowly; Harold was wearing a bright blue jacket, so he’d be easy to find if he got too far away.

After about five minutes, Harold emerged from the forest into a clearing. In the middle was a ring of mushrooms. “A fairy ring!” he called, then stepped carefully over the mushrooms into the centre of the ring. He spun around and looked at the mushrooms. “I’m here!” he said loudly, and then again in a quieter voice, “I’m here to be healed.”

The aide stopped at the edge of the wood and watched Harold. He was uncomfortable with this behaviour, but he didn’t have a frame of reference for it and his training hadn’t really prepared him for this kind of display. When Harold sat down and buried his face in his hands, he stepped forward.

“Mr Martlett, maybe we should go back,” he said.

Harold looked up at him, his eyes brimming with tears. “Not yet, Maurice, not yet. I’m waiting.”

Surprised that the elderly man had gotten his name right, Maurice nodded and stepped back. “We’ll have to be back in time for afternoon meds is all,” he said.

Harold nodded and pressed his hands into the ground by his knees. “We’ll be done here, don’t worry.”

Your character finds the only remaining example of a stinky old boot on the entire planet. What do they do with it?

Timothy frowned at the TV screen as he hit the controls on his Xbox over and over. He was playing a new game that his mom had gotten him, and it wasn’t quite like any other game he’d played before.

Suddenly, he dropped the controller. As he picked it back up, he saw a new dialogue box pop up on the screen.

“This is amazing!” said the character he had just met. “You have found the last stinky old boot on our planet! Do you want to sell (◦) or keep (X)?”

Timothy shook his head and pressed ◦. His gold count went up and then the screen faded to black. When the picture came back, he was standing on the edge of a cliff. The caption across the bottom of the screen read, “You have sold the boot of preservation! You must now fight your way down from this cliff to achieve unlimited lives!”

The first challenger leapt at him, and Timothy began to fight for all he was worth. Unlimited lives in a video game was one of the biggest advantages ever.